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Cambridge Antiquarian Society. Octavo PvMications. No. XXXVI. 

THE PLACE-NAMES 



OF 



CAMBRIDGE SHIEE 



BY THE 



Rev. WALTER W. SKEAT, Litt.D, D.C.L., LL.D., Ph.D. 

ELRINGTON AND BOSWORTH PROFESSOR OF ANGLO-SAXON 
AND FELLOW OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE. 




Cambridge : 

PRINTED FOR THE CAMBRIDGE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. 

SOLD BY DEIGHTON, BELL & CO. ; and MACMILLAN & BOWES. 

LONDON, GEORGE BELL AND SONS. 

1901 

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THE PLACE-NAMES 



CAMBRIDGESHIRE 



PUBLICATIONS: OCTAVO SERIES 
No. XXXVI 



THE PLAGE-NAMES 



OF 



CAMBRIDGE SHIRE 



Rev. WALTER W: SKEAT, Litt.D., D.C.L., LL.D., Ph.D. 

ELRINGTON AND BOSWORTH PROFESSOR OF ANGLO-SAXON 
AND FELLOW OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE. 




Cambrftfge : 

PRINTED FOR THE CAMBRIDGE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. 

SOLD BY DEIGHTON, BELL & CO.; and MACMILLAN & BOWES. 

LONDON, GEOBGE BELL AND SONS. 

1901 



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PRINTED BY J. AND C. F. CLAY, 
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

§ 1. Prefatory Remarks 1 

§ 2. The suffix -ton :— Barton, Carlton, Caxton, Cherry Hinton, 
Chesterton, Clopton, Coinberton, Coton, Croxton, Ditton, 
Drayton, Foxton, Girton, Harlton, Harston, Hauxton, Hinx- 
ton, Histon, Kingston, Linton, Long Stanton, Malton, Milton, 
Newton, Rampton, Royston, Saxton (Saxon Street), Sutton, 
Weston, Wilburton 5 

§ 3. The suffix -ington : — Arrington, Doddington, Impington, 
Leverington, Litlington, Oakington, Trumpingtou, Wiiribl- 
ington — Ickleton, Sawston — Abington, Barrington, Conington 14 

§ 4. The suffix -ham : — Babraham, Badlingham, Balsham, Bar 
ham, Bottisham, Chettisham, Chippenham, Coldhani, Cotten- 
ham, Downham, Dullingham, Fordham, Haddenham, Hilders- 
ham, Isleham, Newnham, Soham, Stretham, Swaft'hani, 
Teversham, West Wickham, Wilbraham, Willingham, 
Witcham 19 

§ 5. The suffix -stead :— Olmstead 25 

§ 6. The suffix -worth: — Boxworth, Duxford (Duxworth), Els- 
worth, Kneesworth, Lolworth, Pampisford (Pampisworth), 
Papworth, Stetch worth, Wentworth ..... 25 

§ 7. The suffixes -wick and -cote : — Benwick, Hardwick, West- 
wick — Coates, Caldecott ....... 27 

§ 8. The suffixes -bridge, -hithe, -low, and -well :— Cambridge, 
Pearl's Bridge, Sturbridge — Clayhithe, Aldreth, Earith — 
Bartlow, Tadlow, Triplow — Barnwell, Burwell, Knapwell, 
Orwell, Outwell, Snailwell, Upwell 29 



CONTENTS. 



The suffixes camp, Chester, dike, hale, hirn, lode, port 
reth, ware : — Castle Camps, Shudy Camps— Chesterton 
Grautchester — Ditton, Brent Ditch, Fleam Dike, Fiendish— 
Mepal, Enhale — Guyhirn — Oxlode — Littleport — Meldreth 
Shepreth— Upware 



§ 10. The suffixes beach, bourn, den, down, ea, fen, field, 
ford, heath, lea, mere, pool, wade : — Landbeach, Water 
beach, Wisbeach — Bourn, Bassingbourn, Fulbourn, Mel 
bourn — Croydon (Crawden), Eversden (Eversdon), Gransden 
Morden (Mordon), Guilden Morden, Steeple Morden— 
Whaddon — Anglesea, Barway, Coveney, Ely, Eastrea 
Horningsea, Manea, Stonea, Stuntney, Swavesey, Thorney 
Welney, Wendy, Whittlesea, Gamlingay, (Bungay, Hilgay 
Wormegay), Shingay, Lingay — Fen Ditton, &c, — Haslingfield 
Nosterfiekl, Radfield — Armingford, Chilford, Dernford 
Shelford, Stapleford, Thetford, Whittlesford, Witchford- 
Horseheath — Ashley, Brinkley, Cheveley, Childerley, Eltisley 
Graveley, Hatley, Madingloy, Silverley, Westley, Wetherley— 
Fowlmere (Foulmire) — Wimpole — Land wade 

§11. Some other names: — Borough Green, Bourn, Burnt Fen, 
Chatteris, Elm, Rennet, Kirtling, March, Newmarket, Over, 
Prickwillow, Quy, Reach, Spinney, Stane, Staplow, Stow 
Toft, Tydd, Wicken, Wratting 

§ 12. List of Ancient Manors 



13. Conclusion 
Index 



37 



44 



THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 



§ 1. Prefatory Remarks. 

In attempting to deal with some of the principal place- 
names in Cambridgeshire, with a view to obtaining some light 
upon their etymologies, I find myself at a disadvantage in one 
respect, but in another to have some hopes of partial success. 
The disadvantage is, that I have made no wide or extended 
study of English place-names in general ; and it is obvious that, 
in many an instance, one place-name is likely to throw light 
upon another, though the places may be in different counties. 
On the other hand, I have had much experience in tracing the 
etymologies of most of the maiu words that occur in our 
English Dictionaries; and the phonetic laws that regulate 
place-names are precisely the same as those that regulate other 
native words that are in common use. 

Perhaps there is no subject of study that is, generally 
speaking, in so neglected a state. The wild and ignorant guess- 
work of the eighteenth century, and even of the nineteenth, 
has filled our books of antiquities and our country histories 
with many misleading theories; and the results of these un- 
conscionable inventions have not unfrequently found their way 
even into the ordnance-maps. However, the principles of pho- 
netics are beginning to make progress. It is now recognised 
that, if it is necessary to look to our spellings, it is still more 
necessary to know what those spellings mean, and not to talk 
at random about words until we have at least learnt how to 
pronounce them. For it is, after all, the spoken word that 
C. A. S. Octavo Series. No. XXX f I. 1 



2 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

matters ; the spellings are merely symbols and guides, and 
will only guide those who understand them. 

It is only of late years that the phonetic laws which govern 
the gradations and mutations of Anglo-Saxon words have been 
intelligently investigated ; and hence it is that it is quite im- 
possible for such as know nothing about such laws to realise 
their intricacy, and the certainty with which, in the hands of 
the student, they point to the original sounds. And there is 
yet another matter which is of vast importance and has never- 
theless received far too little attention ; viz. the now well 
ascertained fact that many of our spellings are Norman or 
Anglo-French, and cannot be interpreted even by the student 
of Anglo-Saxon until he has further realised what such symbols 
mean. I beg leave to say that this is a point which I have 
carefully studied ; and I have now in the press a fairly complete 
statement of the 16 Canons whereby the spelling of a Norman 
scribe is distinguished from that of a Saxon one. Many of 
those who have hitherto investigated the spellings of Domesday 
Book have sometimes, I fear, been in almost complete ignorance 
of the sounds which such spellings denote. Whilst I offer 
these remarks by way of showing that I have considered the 
matter seriously, and have avoided frivolous guesses, I by no 
means suppose that all the results here obtained are final. 
Some are obvious ; others are reasonably certain ; but some 
are doubtful. Which these are, I shall usually endeavour to 
indicate, by the introduction of such words as ' probably ' and 
' possibly,' and the like. 

I wish to express my sincere thanks for help received. I 
do not think I should have undertaken the present task but for 
the kindness of Mr C. Sayle and Mr J. E. Foster. Mr Sayle 
supplied me with the alphabetical list of the principal place- 
names in the county, nearly all of which are here considered ; 
whilst Mr J. E. Foster did me inestimable service by ascertain- 
ing the old spellings of our place-names as they are given in 
the Red Book of the Exchequer, the Ely Registers, the Feudal 
Aids, the Pipe Rolls, and the like, supplying in every case the 
exact reference, and (wherever it was possible) the exact date. 
Only the philologist wholly realises the helpfulness of such 



§ 1. PREFATORY REMARKS. 3 

data ; and it is sufficient to say that, without such material, the 
work could not have been undertaken at all. I shall frequently 
give the dates of various spellings below ; but I wish it to be 
understood that, in every case, the exact reference is known, 
and the evidence can always be produced. When, for example, 
I say that Chesterton is spelt Cestretone in 1210 and in 1130, 
it is meant that Mr Foster has found that spelling under the 
date 1210-12, in the Red Book of the Exchequer (Rolls Series), 
p. 529, and under the date 1130-1 in the Pipe Roll. 

I am also much indebted for many hints and corrections to 
Mr W. H. Stevenson, Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford ; but it 
will be understood that he is in no way responsible for the 
results here given. 

The chief authorities which I have myself consulted are 
not many. I may instance the very valuable work entitled 
Inquisitio Comitatus Cantabrigiensis, ed. N.E.S.A. Hamilton 
(London, 1876), which is practically the original of the Domes- 
day Book as far as relates to Cambridgeshire, with the Inquisitio 
Eliensis appended ; the Domesday Book for Cambridgeshire ; 
the Ramsey Chronicle and the Ramsey Cliartulary (in the Rolls 
Series); the printed charters as edited by Kemble, Thorpe, 
Earle, and Birch ; Sweet's Oldest English Texts and his History 
of English Sounds; the New English Dictionary and the 
English Dialect Dictionary; the Anglo-Saxon Dictionary by 
Bosworth and Toller ; and other helpful books of a like character. 
For the spelling of Anglo-Saxon names, I have depended on 
Kemble's Index of place-names in his sixth volume, and Searle's 
Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum. I have also obtained various 
useful information from Miller and Skertchly's book entitled 
The Fenland Past and Present, from a History of Cambridge- 
shire dated 1851, and from the more recent History of Cam- 
bridgeshire by Couybeare. 

The result of a study of English place-names can hardly 
prove to be other than extremely disappointing, especially to 
the sanguine and the imaginative. Speaking generally, we 
can only satisfy our curiosity to a very limited extent ; and we 
have borne in upon us the fact, which any reflecting mind might 
have anticipated, that names were conferred upon places quite 

1—2 



4 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

casually, for the sake of convenience, and for very trivial 
reasons; precisely as they are conferred now. This is easily 
illustrated by the following list of modern names, compiled from 
the Ordnance map of Cambridgeshire. I find there Chalk 
Farm, Cold Harbour Farm, Crick's Farm, Cuckoo Farm, Grove 
Farm, High Bridge Farm, Hill Farm, Lower Farm, Manor 
Farm, New Farm, Oldfield Farm, Scotland Farm, Shardelow's 
Farm, West Fen Farm, Woodhouse Farm, and many more ; 
Fox Hill, Honey Hill, Thorn Hill, White Cross Hill ; Duck End, 
Frog End, Green End, South End ; Black Hall, Gunner's Hall, 
Nether Hall, Poplar Hall, Spring Hall, White Hall, Wood Hall; 
Quail's Lodge, Worsted Lodge ; Baits Bite, Brookfield, Fries- 
land, King's Hedges, Lamb's Cross, The Poplars, Wrangling 
Corner; and so forth. These afford an indication of the 
character of the names we may expect to find, though perhaps 
our older names are, on the whole, a trifle more dignified, as 
being more descriptive. Yet the truth is that they are usually 
more prosaic than poetical. 

Most of the names considered below are arranged in groups, 
as this is by far the best way of considering them. The most 
frequent endings refer to settlements, as -ton (for town), -ham, 
-stead, -worth, -wick, and -cote ; we also find -bridge, -hithe, 
-low, -well, and others of a like kind, referring to things 
artificial ; whilst another set refers to things natural, such as 
-den, -don (for doivn), -eg (island), -field, -ford, -mere, -pool, and 
the like. The most typical are such as end in -ton or -ington. 
Those in -ton are often preceded by the name of the first 
occupier or builder of the town or farm ; whilst those in -ing-ton 
refer to a cluster of houses which formed the settlement of a 
tribe. The name of the first settler or tribe of settlers is 
invariably that of some man or family of whom nothing further 
is known ; and I suppose that when we meet in modern times 
with names of the same character, such as Crick's Farm, 
Gunner's Hall, or Shardelow's Farm, we do not usually care to 
enquire into the antecedents of Mr Crick, or Mr Gunner, or 
Mr Shardelow ; and it might easily happen that, even if we 
did so, we should not reap any great advantage from it, even 
if we were successful. We must leave the result as we 



§ 2. NAMES ENDING IN -TON. 5 

find it, and be thankful that we have learnt what the names 
mean. 



Abbreviations, etc. 

The following is a list of the more important sources of old 
nes, with some abbreviations : 

Cat. A.D. — Catalogue of Ancient Deeds (Eecord Series). 

D.B. — Domesday Book (part relating to Cambridgeshire). 

E.D.D.— English Dialect Dictionary. 

E.R. — Ely Registers (in the Ely Diocesan Remembrancer). 

F.A.— Feudal Aids (Record Series) ; vol. i. 

Hundred Rolls. — Rotuli Hundredorum ; vols. i. and ii. Those in 

vol. ii are dated 1279. 
I.C.C. — Inquisitio Comitatus Cantabrigiensis ; and Inquisitio Eliensis ; 

ed. N.E.S.A. Hamilton ; 1876. 
Index to the Rolls and Charters in the British Museum, ed. H. J. 

Ellis and F. B. Bickley (1900). 
In. p. m.— Calendarium Inquisitionum post Mortem sive Escaetarum ; 

ed. J. Caley ; vol. i. (Record Series). 
N.E.D.— New English Dictionary (Oxford). 
P.F.— Pedes Finium ; ed. Walter Rye. 
RR.— Pipe Roll, 1189-1190; and Rolls of the Pipe, 1155-1158 ; ed. 

Rev. Joseph Hunter. 
R.B.— Red Book of the Exchequer ; ed. W. D. Selby. (Rolls Series.) 
R.C.- Ramsey Chartulary, ed. W. H. Hart; 3 vols. (The third 

vol. has a full index.) 
R. Chron. — Ramsey Chronicle, ed. Rev. W. D. Macray. (Rolls Series.) 



§ 2. The Suffix -ton. 

The chief places in Cambs. ending with the suffix -ton (not 
preceded by -ing) are as follows : Barton, Carlton, Caxton, 
Cherry Hinton, Chesterton, Clopton, Comberton, Coton, Croxton, 
Ditton, Drayton, Foxton, Girton, Harlton, Harston, Hauxton, 
Hinxton, Histon, Kingston, Linton, Long Stanton, Malton, 
Milton, Newton, Rampton, Royston, Saxton, Sutton, Weston, 
Wilburton. I omit Ickleton and Sawston intentionally, for 
reasons which will be given in due time ; cf. pp. 17, 18. 



6 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

It is well known that the suffix -ton is merely the un- 
emphatic form of the familiar English word town, of which the 
original sense was " enclosure." It usually signified a collection 
of dwellings, or, as in Scotland at this day, a solitary farmhouse. 
Perhaps the nearest modern equivalent is " homestead " ; with- 
out any necessary restriction to a homestead belonging to a 
single owner, although this signification is certainly included. 

Barton. This is the prov. E. barton, a farm-yard ; for 
which see the English Dialect Dictionary. It is the A.S. bere- 
tun, lit. corn-farm, or barley-enclosure ; from bere, barley, and 
tun. Thus the syllable Bar- is in this instance the same as the 
bar- in barley ; see the New English Dictionary. 

Carlton. Written Carleton in 1302 (F.A. i. 142), Carlen- 
tone in Domesday. Here Carl is the Scandinavian equivalent 
of the A.S. ceorl, whence E. churl and the place-name Charlton. 
Carl frequently occurs as a man's name, and is, in fact, the 
origin of the modern E. Charles. The Old Norse karl also 
signifies a man, a male, a household servant, a husbandman ; see 
Carl in the N.E.D. (New English Dictionary). Its combining 
form is karla- ; so that Carlton answers to an Icelandic form 
Karlatun. Cf. Carlatun in Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 288 ; also 
Carletun (Carlton, Cambs.) in the same, iv. 300. 

Caxton is spelt as at present in rather early times ; as, e.g., 
in 1245 (In. p. m., p. 3). There is a place named Cawston in 
Norfolk, which is merely another form of the same name. This 
we know from the fact that the famous printer is not iinfre- 
quently called Causton ; see the Diet, of Nat. Biography. And 
this is why we find Canstone in Domesday Book instead of 
Caxton. The prefix Cans- is mysterious ; and I only make a 
guess when suggesting that it may just possibly represent an 
A.S. form Cages, gen. case from a nom. Gah. That there was 
such a name as Cah may be inferred from the patronymic 
Calling, whence the place-name Cahing-lwg, iu Kemble, Cod. 
Dipl. ii. 137, 1. 9 ; compare also Cagbroc in the same, iii. 413. 
The closely related name Ceahha occurs in Ceahhan mere, 



§ 2. NAMES ENDING IN -TON. 7 

id. iii. 48, 1. 26. A genitival form Cakes 1 , combined with tun, 
would give in Mid. Eng. a form Gagheston, or (by contraction) 
Cagh'ston ; and the ghs might develop an x, as in the case of 
the E. hox from A.S. hoh-sinu; see Hox in the New Eng. 
Dictionary, and compare the use of hock as a variant of hough 
(see the same). Gait is an Old Mercian form, as distinguished 
from the Wessex Ceah, with a broken vowel. This explanation 
is, however, mere guesswork. 

Cherry Hinton. The prefix cherry, having reference to 
cherry-trees, is comparatively modern. The place-name Hinton 
occurs in many parts of England, and is spelt Hintone in 
Domesday Book. Perhaps from A.S. hind, a hind, female deer. 
Had the prefix been Hine-, it would answer to the A.S. hlna, 
as seen in Hlna-gemcero, Hlna-hege, Hlna-mearc, place-names 
given in Kemble's Index ; where hlna is the genitive of hlwan, 
a plural sb. meaning "domestic servants," allied to the modern 
E. hind, a servant, especially an agricultural labourer ; see 
N.E.D. The result is uncertain. 

Chesterton is spelt Cestretone in 1210 (R.B.), in 1130 
(P.R.), and in Domesday Book. The corresponding A.S. form 
is ceaster-tun, where ceaster is merely the Wessex form repre- 
senting the Lat. castrum, a camp ; as is well known. 

Clopton or Clapton, in the parish now called Croydon- 
cum-Clapton, is spelt Gloptone in 1210 (R.B.), and Cloptune in 
D.B. ; but Glopetuna in I.C.C, with reference to Clopton in 
Suffolk. The prefix is the same as in Clapton and Clapham. 
This is ascertained from a genuine charter of the time of 
iElfred in which Clapham (in Surrey) appears as Cloppa-ham ; 
see Sweet, Early English Texts, p. 451. Cloppa looks like a 
genitive plural of a form *clop ; cf. clop-cecer, clop-hyrst, in 
Birch, iii. 589, 590. 

Comberton. Here the o is the regular later Anglo-French 
substitute for an earlier u ; it is spelt Cumbertone in 1155 
(R.B.) and in Domesday Book. The spelling Gumbretone, 

1 Perhaps Mercian ; cf. beeha for bfutgci in a Suffolk charter ; Kemble, Cod. 
Dipl. iii. 273, 1. 13. 



8 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

occurring in 1210 (R.B.), is somewhat preferable. The prefix 
Camber- or Gumbre- represents A.S. Gumbran, genitive of 
Cumbra, a personal name ; see Searle, Onomasticon, p. 146. 
The genitive Gumbran- is clearly seen in the place-name 
Cumbran-weorft (lit. Comber- worth) ; see Earle, A.S. Charters, 
p. 447, 1. 4. Kemble has the ace. pi. Gmnbras with the sense 
of ' Welshmen ' ; Cod. Dipl. iii. 59. 

Coton. In this case, the modern pronunciation suggests 
a derivation from cote and -ton, where cote is another form of 
cot. But it is highly probable that we have here (as often) 
an instance of a name expressed in the dative case ; see the 
account of Newnham (below). If so, Coton really represents 
the A.S. cotum, dative pi. of cot, a cottage; and the true sense 
is " cottages," the prep, cet (at the) being understood. Cf. 
Coates and Cottenham. Coton occurs as a place-name in 1296 
(In. p. m., p. 129), and Cotun in 1272 (the same, p. 39); cf. 
Cotum in Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 288. This etymology is 
certified by the fact that (as Lysons notes) another name for 
Coton was formerly Cotes. Cotes, as mentioned in 1211 (R.B.) 
and in 1284 (F.A. i. 137) appears to refer to Coton; so also 
Cotes in 1291 (Taxatio Ecclesiastica). 

Of the two A.S. forms meaning " cot," cot is neuter, and 
the nom. plural is cotu ; whilst cote is feminine, and the nom. 
plural is cotan. Of cotan a later form is coten, but it did not 
last long. The M.E. plurals in -en were early replaced by 
plurals in -es, so that the plural was already cotes in Wycliffe 
and Langland. This form is actually preserved in the Cambs. 
place-name Coates (near Whittlesey), and elsewhere (p. 28). 

Croxton. Spelt Croxtone in 1302 (F.A., p. 149); Crok- 
estoiw in the Red Book ; Crochestone in Domesday Book. There 
is also a Croxton in Norfolk, spelt Crokeston in 1303 (In. p. 
m., p. 180), and Crochestune in a late charter; Kemble, Cod. 
Dipl. iv. 245. Crokes is a late spelling of A.S. Croces, gen. 
case of Croc, a personal name of which Mr Searle gives three 
examples. 

Ditton, better known as Fen Ditton, occurs in at least 



§ 2. NAMES ENDING IN -TON. 9 

four other counties. In I.C.C., p. 101, we find Dictune in 
one MS., but Dittune in another ; and again, in a late copy 
of a will, the dative case dictunce, also written dictune; Kemble, 
Codex Diplom. iii. 272, 1. 6; 274, 1. 17. Ditton is, in fact, 
the A.S. dictun, lit. ' dike-town ' ; the ct passed into tt by 
assimilation, precisely as the Lat. dictum became detto in 
Italian. 

Drayton was spelt as now as early as 1210 (R.B.). 
Domesday has Draitone. Various old Charters have Dreyton 
aud Drayton ; but they are all spurious or of late date, as 
the spelling shows. The earliest spelling is Drcegtun, as in 
Kemble, Codex Diplom. vi. 139. The history of the A.S. drceg, 
also found as ge-drceg, is not quite clear; but it probably 
signified 'a drawing together,' and hence, a small band of 
men. Another sense of the modern E. dray, in provincial 
English, is "a squirrel's nest"; and the familiar "brewer's 
dray " is probably the same word. See gedraeg in Bosworth 
and Toller, and dray in N.E.D. and E.D.D. (English Dialect 
Dictionary). A possible sense seems to be ' a place of shelter,' 
or ' a retreat.' Cf. drceg-hcema, gen. pi., in Kemble, Cod. Dipl. 
iv. 19, 1. 22. 

Foxton, spelt Foxetune in Domesday Book, requires no 
explanation. 

Girton. Spelt Oyrttone and Grettone in 1434 ; Annales 
Monast. S. Albani, ii. 99, 101. In all older spellings of 
Girton, from the fourteenth century backwards, the r imme- 
diately follows the G. In 1316 (F.A., p. 152), we find 
Grettone; in 1270 (In. p. m., p. 33) Gretton; in 1230 (R.B.) 
Greittone ; in Domesday Book Gretone. In a charter dated 
1060, we find the spelling Gretton; Kemble, Codex Diplom. 
iv. 145, 1. 23 ; but the charter is certainly not of the date 
assigned to it, as is proved by the comparatively late spellings 
of the English words cited at p. 147. We clearly have to 
deal with the same place-name as that which is elsewhere 
spelt Gretton ; there are, in fact, two places still so called, 



10 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

one in Gloucestershire and one in Northamptonshire 1 . Two 
solutions are possible ; one, that gret-ton is equivalent to 
great-ton, i.e. "a large homestead," quite different from what 
would now be understood by a great town ; and in this con- 
nexion it is worth observing that England contains at least 
six places named Littleton. The other solution is that gretton 
is the same word as the prov. E. gratton, which Bailey explains 
as " grass which comes after mowing, stubble, ersh, or eddish," 
though it means, more strictly, the enclosure where such grass 
grows. The E.D.D. treats this word fully; and to this the 
reader is referred. And compare Gratten in the N.E.D. 

Harlton. The spelling Harleton occurs in 1339 (Ely 
Registers). As ar usually answers to an earlier er, we may 
here see an A.S. name due to a name-prefix beginning with 
Herl-. Hence it is that I.C.C. has both Harletona and Herle- 
tona. The prefix Herle- represents a late pet-name Herla 
(gen. Herlan), probably short for *Herela, and formed from 
a name beginning with Here-, such as Herebeald or Herefrith. 
(Distinct from Herl- for Erl, Eorl, in which the H is inorganic.) 

Harston. The spelling Hardlestone occurs in 131G (F.A., 
154), Hardlistone in 1298 (In. p. m., p. 147), and Hardeleston 
in 1291 (Taxatio Ecclesiastica). The first part of the name 
represents the genitive case of the A.S. name of the original 
owner; but what was the exact form of that name the evidence 
is hardly sufficient to show. A highly probable form of the 
name is Hardidf, a later form of Heardivulf. 

Hauxton. Spelt Haukestone in 1316 (F.A. 154). The 
earlier spelling is Hauekestune, in a charter of Edward the 
Confessor; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 245; which appears in 
Domesday Book as Havocliestun. Hauek is a later spelling 
of the A.S. hafoc, a hawk, probably, used as a man's name ; 
as to which Toller remarks that it is found in many names 
of places. Compare Hawkesbury, Hawksdale, Hawksdown, 
Hawkshead, and Hawksworth. 

1 The place in Nhants. is spelt Gretton in the Chronicle of Ramsey Abbey. 
The Gretton in Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 145, seems to be Girton. 



§ 2. NAMES ENDING IN -TON. 11 

HiNXTON. The spelling Hyngeston occurs in the Ely 
Registers in 1341 ; and Hengestone in the Ramsey Chartulary. 
It is certainly a contraction of Hengestestun, the town of 
Hengest ; as there are several other places which present 
similar forms. A clear case is that of Hengestes-ig, now 
called Hinksey, in Berkshire. Hengest is a famous name ; 
the literal sense is ' stallion.' I find the spelling Henxton in 
1291 (Taxatio Ecclesiastica, p. 267). 

Histon. Spelt Histone in 1284 (F.A. 138); Hestona in 
the Pipe Roll (1165). But it seems to be a contracted form ; 
for D.B. has both Histone and Histetone; and I.C.C. has 
Hestitona. In the Inquisitio Eliensis (I.C.C, p. 99), a certain 
man is called Lemarais de Haustitona (v.r. Lemma de Hincsti- 
tona), who is elsewhere (p. 38) called Lemarws de Hestitona. 
I do not understand whether this means that the place was 
confused with Hinxton ; or whether we may connect Hesti- 
with Hwsta, a name which is suggested by Hcvstan-dic in 
Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iii. 209, 1. 5. The name remains unsolved. 

Ickleton. As the old spelling was Iceling-tun, the true 
suffix was -ing-ton. Hence this name will be considered 
amongst the next set; see p. 17. 

Kingston. Spelt Kingestone in 1210 (R.B.); where hinges 
is the genitive of king, late spelling of cyning, a king. 
Domesday Book has Chingestone, where the chi- represents ki-, 
as in other instances. The correct old spelling Cyninges-tl In 
occurs in Kemble, Cod. Dipl. i. 318, 1. 3, with reference to 
Kingston in Surrey. 

Linton. This corresponds to the form Lin-tun in Kemble, 
Cod. Dipl. iii. 368. Lin- may very well be the same as lin- 
in Unseed, representing the A.S. lln, early borrowed from Lat. 
I J man, flax. If so, the sense is 'flax-enclosure.' Any allusion 
to the Welsh llyn, a lake, is highly improbable. On the other 
hand, allusion to the A.S. lind, a lime-tree, is just possible. 
But the A.S. leah-tun, wyrt-tun, both with the sense of 
'garden,' shew that such a compound as iJn-ti'm is whal we 



12 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

should most expect. In fact, we find lln-land with the same 
sense ; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iii. 400, 1. 5. 

Long Stanton. Stanton is the A.S. stan-tun, lit. ' stone- 
enclosure'; and is very common. The Latinised prefix longa 
occurs as early as 1302 (F.A. 148). 

Malton. There is a Malton Farm at Orwell, of which the 
older spelling is Malketon. This form occurs as early as 1279 
(Hand. Rolls), and as late as in Fuller's Worthies of England. I 
can throw no light on this singular form. Compare Melksham, 
and perhaps Mealcing in Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iii. 416. 

Milton. The derivation of Milton would seem to be 
obvious, viz. from mill and town. But we have the clearest 
evidence that the old form was really Middleton, as it appears 
in Domesday Book, and in numerous charters, &c, down to 
the time of Fuller. It is a very common name ; there are 
more than 20 Middletons in various parts of England. In 
the case of our Middleton, the reference may be to its posi- 
tion between Cambridge and Waterbeach, on the way to 
Ely. It appears as Mideltun in a late charter ; Kemble, 
Cod. Dipl. iv. 245. 

Newton. Mentioned in 1302 (F.A. 141); and in a late 
charter in Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 245, with the spelling 

Neutun. No explanation is needed. 

Rampton. Spelt Ramptone in 1210 (R.B.). The spelling 
in Domesday Book is Rantone, which is merely a French 
travesty of the word, and does not much help us; but ICC. 
has Ramtune. These forms suggest that the p is an inserted 
letter, due to the strong emphasis on the final mm of the 
A.S. ramm, a ram. As to the name, compare Foxton, and 
especially the three Sheptons and ten Shiptons, usually 
meaning 'sheep-town.' Ram is quoted by Sir H. Ellis as 
a personal name ; but if this were intended, we should expect 
the modern form to be Ramston. 



§ 2. NAMES ENDING IN -TON. 13 

Royston. Spelt Roystone in 1428 (F.A. 189). This is 
one of the places of later origin, in which the prefix is 
Norman, as shown by the occurrence of the diphthong oy. 
The story has been recorded by Dugdale (Monast. Anglic. 
torn. 2, p. 264) and Tanner (Notitia Monastica) ; whence it 
appears that a certain Lady Roese set up a wayside cross at 
a certain spot, which obtained the name of Crux Roesice in 
Latin, and Cruceroys in Norman ; see the index to the 
Ramsey Chartulary; also spelt Cruce Reys in 1292 (In. p. m., 
p. Ill), and Cvoyrois in 1263 (the same, p. 25). At a later 
date, in the time of Henry II., Eustace de Merc founded 
a priory of Black Canons, near the same spot. A small town 
soon grew up near the priory, and obtained the name of 
Roese-toivn from its proximity to the cross of the Lady Roese. 
The Crux Roesie is referred to in 1316, in Feudal Aids (Record 
Series), i. 156, and later. Roese, otherwise Roise, Reise, or 
Rohaise is a feminine name, of which Miss Yonge, in her 
History of Christian Names, p. 204, gives two wild etymolo- 
gies. It is more to the point that she gives two examples. 
"Rohais [Rohaise?] wife of Gilbert de Gaunt, died in 1156; 
and Roese de Lucy was wife of Fulbert de Dover, in the 
time of Henry II." Royse occurs as a surname in the Clergy 
List; and the Latinised form Rohesia is in the Ingoldsby 
Legends. It represents (says Mr Stevenson) a continental 
Saxon name beginning with Hroth- ; possibly HrothstuvQ. 

Saxton, Saxon Street. Saxton is now absorbed in the 
parish of Wood Ditton, in which there is a considerable 
hamlet still called Saxon Street. Saxtone occurs in 1284 
(Feudal Aids, i. 139), and Sextone in Domesday Book ; probably 
from 0. Merc. Saxan-tun, Saxa's enclosure, though this should 
rather have been represented in D.B. by Sexetone. The old 
name of the street may likewise have been Saxan-strd't, the 
form Saxan being preserved by association with Saxon. 

Sutton. In Domesday Book, Sudtone; A.S. SicStun, lit. 
" south town." I may note here that the four points of the 
compass are often represented by names in -ton in various 
counties; as in Norton, Sutton, Easton, and Weston. 



14 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

Weston Colville. I.e. "west town," as noted above. 
The place is quite close to West Wratting, with the same 
prefix. Colville is a family name of Norman origin. In a 
Hist, of Cambs. dated 1851, it is stated that the Colvilles 
obtained the manor of Weston in the time of Edward I. The 
index to the Ramsey Chartulary mentions a Colville who was 
sheriff of Huntingdon. 

Wilburton. The oldest spelling is Wilburhtun ; Kemble, 
Cod. Dipl. vi. 98, 1. 5. The prefix is Wilburh, remarkable as 
being a feminine name only. The same prefix appears in 
Wilbraham, as shown at p. 24. A more correct form would 
be Wilburgetun, where Wilburge is the gen. case of Wilburh. 
This true genitive occurs in Wilburge-ham. 



§ 3. The suffix -ing-ton. 

The next set of names includes those that end in -ington ; 
which must be divided into two classes. The former is that 
in which the form -ing is original ; the latter, that in which 
it has been substituted for some other prefix. The distinction 
is one that involves some difficulties ; so that the results are, 
to a slight extent, uncertain. As to this point, see Kemble's 
Saxons in England, i. 60, and the note ; and the list of names 
containing -ing at p. 456 of the same volume. I have grave 
doubts as to the originality of -ing in Abington and Barrington; 
and even in Conington the sense is doubtful ; so that these 
names will be considered separately. 

Arrington. Of this name there are two spellings. On 
the one hand, we find Arington in 1270 (In. p. m., p. 33), 
and in 1284 (F.A. 137). But the real name must have been 
Arnington, since we frequently find that form, not only in 1302 
(F.A. 146), but in D.B. and I.C.C., p. 110, where the form is 
Erningetone, described as being in "Wederlai" hundred, and 
also spelt JErningetune. This is clearly right, and the prefix 
is the same as in Arningford ; i.e. it means " the settlement 
of the sons of Mxi\ or Earn " ; where earn (tern) originally 



§ 3. NAMES ENDING IN -IXGTON. 15 

meant " eagle." It evidently became Arlington by association 
with Barrington, which is not far off. 

Doddington. Spelt Docbjngtone in 1302, in Feudal Aids, 
i. 151 ; but Dodinton in Domesday Book, with in for ing. 
There are many traces of the Doddings, as there are five other 
Doddingtons, and a Doddinghurst in Essex. Hence Doddington 
is the "town uf Doddings"; and the Doddings were the sons 
of Dodda, an A.S. name of which we have more than a dozen 
examples. 

Impington. Some of the early spellings omit the ng; 
thus we tind Impetone in 1302 (F.A. 148). Other spellings, 
all of them Norman, have ouly n fur ng; as Impyntone in 
1316 (F.A. 153): Empintone in 1210 (R.B.). Domesday Book 
has Epintone, obviously an error for Empintone, as above; cf. 
Empintona in I.C.C. p. 174. A late copy of a charter has 
Impintun ; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 245. The change from em 
to im is not uncommon, whilst the change from en to in 
occurs several times; thus limbeck is a later form of alembic, 
and think is from A.S. thencan. Hence the change from 
Emp- to Imp- is regular, and we learn that Emp- is the 
older form. In this way, we arrive, at any rate, at a form 
Empintun. We could not be quite sure that the nt is 
a Norman way of writing ngt (as is very frequently the 
case) but for the fortunate circumstance that the original 
Emping- is perfectly preserved in the name of Empingham 
in Rutlandshire ; from which Kemble correctly inferred that 
the Empingas were an Old English tribe. See Kemble's 
Saxons in England, i. 463. Hence Impington certainly means 
" town of the Empings." The name Empa is recorded in 
Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iii. 440 ; though the MS. is late and of 
slight authority. There is a mention of Thomas de Norman- 
tile, dominus de Empingham, in the Chronicon Petrobur- 
gense (Camden Society), p. 74. 

Leverington. We find Liuerington in 1285 (Cat. A.D., 
vol. ii), and Leveryngtone in 1302 (F.A. 151). The probability 
that Levering represents a tribal name is suggested by tin- 



16 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

existence of two Levertons (without the -ing) in Notts, and 
Lincolnshire. The index to Kemble has Leoferes-haga, i.e. 
" Lever's haw " ; where Leo/ere represents the A.S. Leof-here, 
an A.S. personal name. 

Litlington. The spelling in Domesday Book is Lidlintone, 
but later authorities have Lytlyngtone, Litlyngtone (F.A. 150, 
189), and the like. I.C.C. has Lidlingtone, Litlingtona ; and 
there is a Lidlington in Beds. Another spelling is Lutlingtone, 
in 1316 (F.A. 156). As the Mid. Eng. i, y, and u all occa- 
sionally represent an A.S. y, we see that the derivation might 
possibly be from an A.S. form *Lydila, from a base Lad- ; cf. 
Luddesbroc, &c, in Kemble's index. 

OAKINGTON. This place has lost an initial H, which appears 
in all the older spellings; thus we find Hokingtone in 1284 
(F.A. 138), and Hochintone in Domesday Book ; I.C.C. has 
Hokintona. It is spelt Hokington in Fuller's Worthies. The 
sense is " town of the Hocings." Hoeing is a tribal name, 
from the personal name Hoc or Hoca. The genitive of Hoc 
occurs in Hoces byrgels ; and that of Hoca in Hocan edisc ; 
both in Kemble's Index. Hoc occurs in Beowulf; and the 
Hocings are mentioned in the very old A.S. poem named 
The Traveller. The o is usually marked as long, which would 
come out as Hook in modern English. In order to produce 
the modern Oakington, the vowel must have been shortened 
at an early date, and afterwards again lengthened in the 
usual way. Such processes are not uncommon; and we may 
particularly note the curious forms Hoggitone, found in 1284 
(F.A. 137) ; and Hoccltintona, Hockingtona (as well as Hokintona) 
in I.C.C. 

Trumpington. Well known from its mention by Chaucer, 
in the first line of the Reves Tale, where the Ellesmere MS. 
has the spelling Trumpyngton. The form Trumpington occurs 
in 1270 (In. p. m., p. 33); though the Norman scribes of 
the thirteenth century usually give it as Trumpintone, with 
a vicious reduction of ng to n, as is their usual habit. It 



§ 3. NAMES ENDING IN -INGTON. 17 

even occurs as Trumpintun in a late copy of an A.S. Charter ; 
Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 245. The history of the name is un- 
known ; but we may fairly assume, with Kemble, the existence 
of a tribe of Trumpingas or Trumpings. 

Wimblington. This is a place of small importance, near 
to Doddington. Mr Foster notes that, in the account of the 
monastery of Ely in Dugdale's Monasticon, there is a schedule 
of the properties belonging to it in 30 Henry VIII (vol. i. 
p. 493). Amongst these appears Doddington, and Wimblington 
appears as Willmington and Wymelyngton. 

Of these forms, the older is Wilmington, which suffered 
metathesis and so became Wimlington or Wimelington, and 
afterwards Wimblington, with an inserted b. Mr Stevenson 
finds Wihnyngton (in company with Doddington) in 1387 (Cal. 
Pat. Roll, p. 298). It is of the same origin as Wilmington 
(Devon.), and represents a form *Wil(h)elming-tun, from the 
personal name Wilhelm (William). 

Ickleton. Amongst the names in -ington we must include 
also Ickleton. All the early spellings give various forms of 
Iklyngton, or (in 1210) Iclintone (R.B.). Domesday Book has 
Inchelintone and Hichelintone, where che is equivalent to he. 
The true A.S. spelling is Iceling-tun, for which there is good 
authority, viz. iElfhelm's Will ; see Birch, Cart. Saxon, iii. 630, 
1. 24. Iceling is regularly formed from the A.S. personal name 
Icel, which occurs in the A.S. Chronicle, under the date 626 ; 
where we are told that Cnebba was Iceling, or the son of Icel, 
and Icel was Eomwring, or the son of Eomier. In the Life 
of Guthlac, we are told that the Iclingas were a Mercian 
family to which Guthlac belonged ; see Bosworth's Diet., 
p. 585. There is an Icklingham in Suffolk ; and it is a re- 
markable fact that the name of Ickleford in Herts, is also 
a contraction of Icklingford, as may be seen by consulting 
the index to the Ramsey Chartulary 1 . None of these names 
can by any possibility be connected, as is often gratuitously 
assumed, with the Icenhild in Icenhilde iveg (Ichenhild-way). 
1 But the Chronicle of Ramsey Abbey has Teles forde. 
Q. A. S. Octavo Series. No. XXXVI. 2 



18 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

The reason why the Z;-sound was preserved in Iceling instead 
of its being turned into Icheling is simply that the e dropped 
out by contraction, giving I cling (as noted above). 

Sawston. This also is proved, by the old spellings, to 
have originated from a tribal name. It was originally a word 
of four syllables. In 1284 we find Sausitone (F.A. 137), and 
in 1210 it is Sausintone (R.B.) ; Domesday Book has Salsiton ; 
and in I.C.C. we find Salsintona. But even these are abbre- 
viated forms. The Chronicle of Ramsey Abbey has Salsingetun, 
Salsingetune, and the Latinised form Selsingetona (p. 50). This 
variation between a and e suggests that the A.S. vowel may 
have been ce; and, if so, the corresponding A.S. form is 
* Scelsinga-tiin, or "town of the Sa?lsings." We have no means 
of deciding whether this form is correct ; but the suffix -inge 
or -inga (gen. plural from -ing) is sufficient to show that the 
reference is to the settlement of a tribe, even though we 
cannot be quite sure as to the spelling of the name of the 
tribe's progenitor. 

Abington. The form of the word is misleading. It was 
formerly Abyntone in 1302 (F.A., p. 150), and Abintone in 
the Red Book, Domesday Book, and I.C.C. As in the case 
of Abingdon in Berks., the modern Abing- really represents 
Abban, gen. of Abba, a common A.S. name. See iElfric's 
Will, in Earle's Land Charters, p. 223, 1. 1. There is another 
Abington in Northamptonshire, and this likewise was formerly 
Abintone, as in the Ramsey Chartulary. 

Barrington. The old spellings are Barntone in 1210 
(R.B.), Barentone in 1284 (F.A. 137), Baryngtone in 1428 
(F.A. 182). The form in Domesday Book and in I.C.C. is 
Barentone. The prefix Baren- answers to A.S. Bceran, gen. of 
a personal name Baira. See three examples of this in Kemble's 
index. 

Conington. The old spellings, according to Mr Foster, are 
Gonintone, 1210 (R.B.), 1302 (F.A. 148), and Gonitone, 1346, 
1428 (F.A. 166, 185); also Gunitone, D.B. However, we find 



§ 4. NAMES ENDING IN -HAM. 19 

the spellings Conington in 1290 (In. p. m., p. 103); Cuninctune 
in the index to the Chronicle of Ramsey Abbey ; and Cunning- 
tPn in the Will of ./Elfhelm of Wratting, written in fairly good 
Anglo-Saxon ; see Birch, Cart. Saxon iii. 630 ; and the land 
at Wratting had been granted to Elfhelm by King Eadgar 
in 974. Hence the spelling with -ing is well established, and 
there is a personal name Cuna from which it might be derived. 
Compare Connington in Hunts. At the same time, we cannot 
be quite sure that we really have here a tribal name. The 
prefix might represent the Icel. hmung-, from konnngr, a king. 



§ 4. The suffix -ham. 

The next suffix to be discussed is -ham. It arises from 
two A.S. suffixes which were originally quite distinct; see the 
excellent articles on Ham, sb. (2) and Ham, sb. (3) in the New 
Eng. Dictionary ; and cf. Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iii. p. xxvii. The 
two A.S. forms are (1) ham (with short a), also appearing as 
hamm and horn, with the sense of "enclosure" or "place 
fenced in," connected with the modern E. verb to hem in ; and 
(2) ham, modern English home, meaning a village or village 
community, often shortened to ham (with short a) when 
bearing the stress and preceding a consonant, as in Hampstead 
(lit. homestead), or when occurring in an unstressed position, 
as in Wick-ham (lit. village-home). As there is no distinction 
of form in the modern English names, the two will be taken 
together ; they cannot always be distinguished. 

Babraham. The old spellings are Badburham (R.B.) and 
Badburgham ; Domesday Book has the latter ; the full form 
Badburgeham is in I.C.C. The name is composed of known 
elements. The former is Bad- ; see Sweet, O. Eng. Texts, 
p. 593 ; it occurs, e.g. in Bad-helm. 

The latter is the common feminine suffix -burh, as in 
Wilburhton, Wilburton. Hence the personal name was Bad- 
burh, the name of a woman, the gen. case being Badburge. 
The suffix would be ham (with short a), if the statement 

2—2 



20 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

were correct which is quoted from Taylor in the New Eng. 
Dictionary, that ham (home) is not used with the name of an 
individual. But there are certainly some exceptions to this 
empirical rule, even among the place-names here considered ; 
and it is positively contradicted by examples ending in -haam ; 
see Sweet, O. E. Texts, p. 426. 

BADLINGHAM ; near Chippenham. So spelt in 1284; and 
Badelmgham in 1302 (F.A., 136, 143). The A.S. form would 
be Badelinga-hdm, the home of the Badelings ; where Badeling 
is formed from the personal name Badela. The gen. case 
occurs in Badelan-broc, lit. Badela's brook ; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. 
iii. 343, 1. 19. 

Balsham. Formerly Balesham, in Henry of Huntingdon ; 
also Belesham, in 1170 and 1210 (P.R., R.B.), and in Domesday 
Book. Also Bellesham, in a charter dated 974, and apparently 
genuine ; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. vi. 104, 1. 20. Belles and Bales 
are probably variants of Bcelles, as in Bcelles wceg, Ball's way ; 
Kemble, iii. 424, 1. 10. This is the gen. case of Bcell, Ball, a 
personal name; and this form justifies the modern pronuncia- 
tion. 

Barham ; near Linton. Spelt Berkham in 1210 (R.B.) ; 
Bergham in 1302, Berugham in 1346 (F.A., 145, 162); 
Bercheham in Domesday Book ; but Ber chain in I.C.C. The 
corresponding A.S. form is Beorh-ham, lit. " hill-enclosure." 
See the account of Bartlow at p. 34. 

Bottisham. We find Bottesham in 1428, Botkesham in 
1400 ; Bodkesham in 1372 (Pedes Finium). An earlier form is 
Bodekesham in 1210 (R.B.) ; with slight variants at other 
dates ; Domesday Book has Bodichesham likewise. A late 
charter has Bodekesham; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 145. The 
nom. case would be Bodec, closely allied to the weak form 
Bodeca, of which the gen. case Bodecan appears in Bodecan- 
leage; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. i. 215. The sense is "Bodec's 
enclosure." 



§ 4. NAMES ENDING IN -HAM. 21 

Chettisham ; near Ely. Spelt Chetisham in the Ramsey 
Chartulary. Of this name I can find no further illustration. 
Perhaps it is due to an A.S. name-form Cett. Compare the 
weak form Getta, as in Gettan-treo ', Kemble, God. Dipl. iii. 380. 

Chippenham. Spelt Chipenham in I.C.C. ; and Ghipeham 
in Domesday Book. There is a Chippenham in Wilts., of 
which the dat. case Gippenhamme occurs in a charter of 
Alfred's; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. ii. 115, 1. 2; spelt Cippanhamme 
in the A.S. Chronicle, an. 87<S. The suffix is hamm, an 
enclosure. Gippan is the gen. of Gippa, a name found once 
elsewhere. See the Crawford Charters, ed. Napier and Stevenson, 
p. 73. 

Coldham. The Ramsey Chartulary mentions the manor 
of Coldham. The derivation is obvious ; from the Old Mercian 
cald, cold ; and ham, an enclosure. 

CoTTENHAM. Formerly Gotenham, in I.C.C. ; and in late 
A.S. Charters. Goten might represent the A.S. cotan, gen. of 
cota, a cot or cottage ; the sense being ' cot-enclosure ' ; (cf. 
Coates and Coton ;) but this would have given a long o in 
the modern form. Hence the original form should have been 
written Gottan-ham, in which case it is derived from Gotta, a 
known personal name. Even in that case, Gotta may once 
have meant " a cottar." 

Downham. Formerly Dunham (both vowels are marked 
long by Kemble, but without authority); Kemble, Cod. Dipl. 
iv. 209, 1. 4. From A.S. dim, a down or hill, and (probably) 
ham, an enclosure. 

Dullingham. Spelt Dullingeham in 1210 (R.B.), and in 
Domesday Book. But we also find Dilin-, as in Dilintone, Red 
Book of the Exchequer, p. 531. These answer to an A.S. 
form Dyllinga-hcim, or " home of the Dyllings." We may 
further compare Dilham, Norfolk, and Dilton, Wilts. And see 
Dull in the N.E.D. 

Fordham. Spelt Fordeham in Domesday Book. From 
ford (gen. forda), a ford, and ham, (perhaps) an enclosure. 



22 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

Haudenham. Spelt Hadenham in 1300 (Cat. Ancient 
Deeds); Hadreham in Domesday Book; Hadreham, Hcederham, 
Hadenham in I.C.C. ; A.S. Hcedan-ham, Kemble, Cod. Dipl. vi. 
98. Hcedan is the gen. case of the personal name Hceda, 
perhaps a variant of Heada ; cf. Headan scrcef in Birch, Cart. 
Sax. i. 83, 1. 2. Here ham is " home." 

Hildersham. Formerly Hildricesham ; in Domesday Book 
and in the Ramsey Chartulary. From A.S. Hilderic, a personal 



Isleham. Formerly Isilham, 1284; Iselham, 1302 (F.A., 
136, 143) ; Yeselham, 1321, in the Pedes Finium ; Gisleham in 
Domesday Book. For A.S. Gislan-ham ; where Gislan is the 
gen. case of Glsla, a personal name. Compare Glsl-, a common 
A.S. name-prefix. The A.S. glsel means " a hostage " ; and the 
initial g, being a mere y, was easily lost. See gisel in the 
New Eng. Dictionary. 

Newnham. In Cambridge. The spelling Newynham 
occurs in 1346 (FA., 167), and a better form Newenham is in 
the Ramsey Chartulary. The form is due to the use of the 
A.S. dative, which is very common in the case of place-names, 
the preposition tet being understood. The full phrase would be 
ait Sam niwan hdme, lit." at the new home." Hence the n is a 
mere case-suffix, and the name has the same sense as if it were 
simply Newham. Kemble's Index gives several examples of 
A.S. Niwan-ham as the old form of Newnham ; and of A.S. 
Niwan-tun as the old form both of Newton and of Newington. 
In the form Newington the -ing was substituted for the -n- or 
-in- by association with the numerous names that end in 
-ington, so that Newing- (like Newn-) merely represents nirnan, 
the dat. of nlwe, new. In the case of Newnham, the suffix 
means " home," because we find the derived form Nlwanhcvma 
gemero ; for which see Kemble's Index. 

Soham. Formerly Saham, as in Domesday Book ; and the 
a was long ; cf. A.S. sfdn with £. stone. We have an English 
spelling of it, viz. Sccgham, in a charter of the twelfth century ; 



§ 4. NAMES ENDING IN -HAM. 23 

see Earle, Land Charters, p. 368, 1. 8. Here ce is a modified 
form of a ; so that the better spelling would be Sac/ham, which 
would regularly produce the modern form. The etymology is 
from sig-an (pt. t. sag), to sink down , so that the literal sense 
would be " a ham or enclosure situate near a depression " or 
" hollow." This suits the situation, as there was once a large 
mere at Soham before the fens were drained (Imperial Cyclo- 
paedia). Though the word is not otherwise known in English 
(unless " depression " is the meaning of the unknown A.S. sag, 
which occurs once in a doubtful passage), we have its exact 
counterpart in the Bavarian saig and the Tyrolese sege, soga, a 
depression or swamp ; see Saig in Schmeller's Bavarian Dic- 
tionary. The alternative A.S. form Scrgham will account for 
the M.E. form Seham, in the Chronicle of Ramsey Abbey ; 
unless the e is an error for o, a mistake which is not uncommon. 

STRETHAM. Spelt Stratham in T.C.C. The lit. sense is 
" street-ham " ; an enclosure situate near an old street or 
causeway. It is situate at the point where the causeway from 
Earith to Haddenham, continued through Wilburton, joins the 
road from Cambridge to Ely. 

Swaffham. Formerly Swafham, in 1210 (R.B.); Suafam 
in Domesday Book ; also Sua/ ham in a late Charter ; Kemble, 
Cod. Dipl. iv. 245, 1. 20. From a personal name related to 
the A.S. name-prefix Swcef-, in which the w was originally long. 
See further under Swavesey ; p. 54. In the case of Swaffham 
Bulbeck, the name Bulbeck is explained by the statement in 
I.C.C., p. 12, that "Hugo de Bolebech " held seven and a half 
hides of land at Swaffham. The better spelling Bolebec occurs 
at p. 102; and this surname goes back to a Norman place-name 
Bolbec, derived from bull (Icel. bolt) and beck, a stream. It 
is spelt Bolebek in 1284 (Feudal Aids). In 1302 we find 
Swafham Prioris, which accounts for Swaffham Prior's. 

Teversham. Formerly Teueresham, in 1210 (R.B.) ; in 
Domesday Book it is Teuresham and Teuersham ; and Teuresham 
in a late charter; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 245, 1. 23. The 
corresponding A.S. form would be Teferes-ham, as if from a 



24 



THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 



nom. case Tefer or Tefere ; but I find no trace of this name 
elsewhere, beyond the parallel form Teversall (perhaps Tefer's 
hall) in Notts. The ending -ere may represent the common 
name-suffix -here; and the oldest form may have been Teof- 
here ; cf. Teoue-leah and Teobba in Kemble's Index. 

West Wickham. The A.S. name of Wickham is Wic-Jiam ; 
Kemble, Cod. Dipl. vi. 98, 1. 6. From wlc, a village, not a 
native word, but borrowed from Lat. ulcus ; and ham, a home. 
The a is long ; cf. Wlc-hwma, Kemble, v. 243 ; 1. 8. 

Wilbraham. Spelt Wilburham in 1302 (F.A., 143). The 
prefix is the same as that which begins Wilburton ; viz. the 
female name Wilburh (p. 14). The genitive of Wilburh was 
Wilburge; and the suffix -e is preserved in the spelling Wilbure- 
ham (A.D. 1156) in the Chronicle of Ramsey Abbey. The right 
form Wilburgeham is in Birch, Cart. Saxon, iii. 630. 

Willingham. Formerly Wiuelingeham, as in Domesday 
Book ; Weuelingham (misprinted Weuelingham) in the Ramsey 
Chartulary; also, in a late charter, Uuiulingeham, misprinted 
as Uuinlingeham; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 245, 1. 12 from 
bottom. These spellings represent an A.S. Wifelingaham, or 
" the home of the Wifelings." Wifeling is a patronymic formed 
from Wifel, a name of which there are several examples in 
Kemble's Index. 

Witcham. Formerly Wychham, in 1302 (F.A., 151); and 
Wiceham in Domesday Book, where c denotes either the sound 
of E. ch or ts ; cf. Witchford (p. 63). This Wice (Wiche) repre- 
sents an A.S. Wican, gen. case of Wica, related to the name- 
prefix Wic-, which appears in several compounds. It is quite 
distinct from Wickham (above) ; the prefix in this case being 
native English. 



5, 6. NAMES ENDING IN -STEAD, -WORTH. 25 



§ 5. The suffix -stead. 

This suffix is here almost unknown. Still, there is an 
Olmstead Green, and Hall, close to Castle Camps. 

Olmstead. We find Olmestede in 1302 (Feudal Aids), and 
(J I misted in 1310 (in the same). The latter part of the word is 
stead, a place, A.S. stede. The spelling is not old enough to 
fix the former part of it with certainty. The word which most 
resembles it is Du. ulm, an elm, which is merely borrowed from 
the Lat. idmus. The form ulm-treow, elm-tree, occurs in A.S. ; 
and it is possible that Olm- represents this ulm. 

Lysons says that " Olmsted Hall was at first in the family of 
Olmsted." But the family was named from some place. 



§ 6. The suffix -worth. 

The A.S. worth was applied to an enclosed homestead or 
farm; see Bosworth and Toller's A.S. Diet., p. 1267. It is 
closely allied to the A.S. weortk, worth, value ; and may be 
taken in the sense of " property " or " holding " or " farm." 
There are several names with this suffix. 

Boxworth. Formerly Bokesworth, in 1284 (F.A.); and in 
the Ramsey Chartulary (index). Domesday Book has Boches- 
uuorde, with ch for the sound of c or k, and d for that of th. 
The Old English prefix would be Boces (with c as k), gen. of 
Boc. Boc was perhaps a Norse name rather than A.S. ; as it 
answers better to Icel. bokkr, Swed. bock, a he-goat, than to the 
rare A.S. buc, a buck, or he-deer ; though we find the spelling 
Bukeswrth in 1228 (Pedes Finium). 

Duxford. The suffix -ford is quite modern, and a substi- 
tution for -worth 1 ; we find Dokisivorth as late as in Fuller's 
Worthies; so also Dokesiuorth in 1211 (R.B.), Dukesworth in 

1 The intermediate form Duxforth occurs in the time of Henry VIII ; in 
Valor Ecclesiasticus, iii. 504. 



26 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

1284 (F.A.), and Dochesuuorde in Domesday Book. The corre- 
sponding A.S. prefix would be Duces, gen. of Due, a name not 
otherwise known, unless it be related to Duce-mannes-tun and 
Duceling-duii in Kemble's Index, the latter being the modern 
Ducklington, in Oxfordshire. It is certainly not the same 
word as the modern duck, because the A.S. form of that word 
(which is extremely rare) was duca ; and the gen. ducan could 
not have produced a form in -es. Cf. Duccen-hulle in Birch, 
Cart. Sax. iii. 95. 

Elsworth. Formerly Ellesworthe in 1316, Elesworth in 
1284 (F.A.); and Elesiuorde in Domesday Book. The A.S. 
form is Elesworft, in late and perhaps spurious charters ; 
Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iii. 107, iv. 145. The Ramsey Chartulary 
gives the prefix as Eles-, Elis-, Elles-, Ellis-. This we may 
compare with Elles-beorh in Kemble's Index, and with JElles- 
burne ; from the nom. JElle, oldest form JSlli (Sweet). 

Kneesworth. Spelt Knesworthe in 1316, and Knees worthe 
in 1346 (F.A.); Knesworth in 1276 (Rot. Hund. p. 51). Knee 
(A.S. cneo) is not recorded as a name. The A.S. cneo means 
not only " knee," but " a generation." 

Lolworth. Spelt Lulleworth in 1284 (F.A.) ; Lolesuuorde 
in Domesday Book ; Lollesworth in the Chronicle of Ramsey 
Abbey. The same name as Lulworth in Dorsetshire. Kemble's 
Index has also the forms LidlesivyrS and Lidlesbeorh. The 
Domesday Loles represents the A.S. Lulles, gen. case of Lull, a 
known name. 

Pampisford. As in the case of Duxford, the suffix -ford is 
here quite modern: I find Pampsworth in 1851. Fuller has 
Pampisworth, and it is the same in all early spellings, which 
only vary as to the use of -es and -is. Domesday Book has 
Pampesuuorde. The name Pamp, here implied, is a remark- 
able one, but no more is known about it. Perhaps it is of 
Scandinavian origin; compare Dan. dialect pamper, a short, 
thick-set person (Molbech), and the Lincolnshire pammy, thick 



§§ 6, 7. NAMES ENDING IN -WORTH, -WICK. 27 

and fat (Halliwell) 1 . The Ramsey Chartularv mentions an 
Alan Pampelin. 

Papworth. Spelt Papeworde in Domesday Book. The 
Ramsey (Jhartulary has Pappenwrihe and Pappeworthe. Pape 
or Pappen corresponds to A.S. Pappan, gen. case of Pappa. 
Cf. Papan-holt, Birch, C. S. ii. 246, 1. 2. Moreover, there is a 
Papcastle in Cumberland. 

Stetchworth. Spelt Stewcheworthe in 1383 (Cat. Anc. 
Deeds, vol. ii.) ; Stiuicesuuorde and Stuuicesiuorde in Domesday 
Book. In late charters we find the Anglo-French spellings 
Steuicheswrfte, Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 245, 1. 23; and Steueche- 
worde, iv. 269, 1. 4 from bottom ; also Stivecheswrthe in 1235 
(P.F.). The forms in Domesday Book imply an A.S. Styfices, 
gen. of Styfic, or else Sty feces, gen. of Styfec 2 . The latter is a 
known form, and further accounts for the weak form Stuca 
(shortened from Styfeca) ; and consequently for Stukeley in 
Hunts., of which an old spelling was Stiveclea (index to Ramsey 
Chartulary). 

Wentworth. Spelt Wyntewurthe in 1428 (F.A.), Wynte- 
worth in 1291 (Taxatio Ecclesiastica) ; and Winteworde in 
Domesday Book. Wiute answers to A.S. Wintan, gen. case of 
Winta. Winta was the name of a son of Woden ; see Sweet, 
Old Eug. Texts, p. 171, first line. 



§ 7. The suffixes -wick and -cote. 

Another suffix similar in sense to -ham and -ton is ivick. 
This is not a native word ; the A.S. wlc, a dwelling, being 
merely borrowed from the Lat. ulcus, a village. It appears as 
the former part of a compound in Wick-ham (p. 24); but it is 
also a suffix, as in Ben-wick, Hard-wick, and West-ivick. 

1 The local name is Paanza, regularly shortened from PampVorth; like 
Saapsa from Satoiridgeworth. The form Pampisford would have been shortened 
to Paanzfud or Ponzfud, or Ponsfud, with persistent/. 

2 As seen in Styfec-ing in Kemble's Index, and in Styvec-Ica (Stukeley) in 
Thorpe, Diplom. p. 382, note 6. 



28 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

Benwick. Spelt Benewik in the Ramsey Chartulary. We 
have two Benningtons, viz. in Lincolnshire and Hertfordshire, 
where Benning is presumably a patronymic. We may therefore 
derive Ben-tvick from the A.S. Bennan, gen. case of Benna, a 
known name. There is also a name Beonna, which is probably 
a mere variant of the former ; see, however, the Crawford 
Charters, p. 64. 

Hardwick. Spelt Herdwice in 1171 (R.B.) ; Herdewic in 
the Ramsey Chartulary ; Hardwic in a late charter, Kemble, 
Cod. Dipl. iv. 245 ; and in I.C.C. Herdewic answers to the A.S. 
Heorde-wlc (Kemble) ; from heorde, gen. of heord, a herd or 
flock. There are several other parishes of the same name. 

Westwick. Westtudche in Domesday Book. The prefix, 
as in Westley, is the A.S. west, west. It is near Oakington. 

Coates. There is a place in Cambs. named Coates, lying 
to the E. of Whittlesea. This is the same word as M.E. cotes, 
the pi. of cote, a cot ; and means " a collection of cottages." 
For its use as a suffix, see below. The Ramsey Chartulary 
mentions a Robert de Cotes. Cf. Coton, at p. 8. 

Caldecott, or Caldecote. The latter form occurs in 
Fuller's Worthies and in Domesday Book. It is not derived 
from the O. Mercian cald (A.S. ceald), cold, and cote, a cot, in 
the nominative case, but from the formula cet tha/m caldan 
cotan, where the preposition cet was originally prefixed, with 
the dative case following it. This is how caldan cotan, Mid. 
Eng. calde cote, has produced the modern Eng. trisyllabic form. 
Moreover, the a in M.E. calde was never lengthened as in the 
nominative cald (modern E. cold), but remained short as at 
first. This was because the final e in calde was not dropped. 
The cottage was no doubt called " cold " from being in an 
exposed situation. 






7, 8. NAMES ENDING IN -WICK, -BRIDGE. 29 



§ 8. The suffixes -bridge, -hithe, -low, and -well. 

Besides the suffixes -ham and others which mark the abode 
of the primitive tillers of the soil, there are others which relate 
to artificial constructions, such as -bridge, -hithe, -lotv, and 
-well ; which may be considered together. 

The bridges are Cambridge, Pearl's Bridge, and Sturbridge. 

Cambridge. In an article published at length in my book 
entitled A Student's Pastime, pp. 393 — 401, I showed how the 
name Cambridge is practically modern, being corrupted, b}' 
regular gradations, from the original A.S. form which had the 
sense of Granta-bridge ; and consequently that the town is not 
derived from the name of the river Gam, which is modern and 
artificial, but conversely, the name of the Cam was, in the 
course of centuries, evolved out of the name of the town. Had 
it been otherwise, the name of the town would have been 
Camm-bridge, pronounced so that Camm would rhyme with 
ham and jam. As it is, the Gam is modernised from the Latin 
Camus of the 16th century. The easiest way for those who 
are not much acquainted with phonetic laws to understand 
this rather difficult point, is to observe the chronological facts. 
And for this purpose, the successive forms of the name are 
given below, with sufficient dates. 

The original name is said to have been Caer-grant, meaning 
"the fort (or castrum) beside the Grant"; the Grant being, 
presumably, a Celtic river-name, of unknown meaning. 

The Anglo-Saxon and Middle-English forms now follow. 
Those with Gr- come first. 

[Granta-caestir ; Beda, Eccl. Hist., bk. iv. c. 19 (8th century). 
Here caestir is a Northern E. form of the Lat. castrum, used 
as equivalent to the Welsh caer. This, however, has produced 
the modern form Grantchester, not the name with the b?ndge.] 

Grante-brycge (dat. case); A.S. Chronicle, under the date 
875. The late Laud MS. has Grantan-, as though it were the 
gen. case of Granta, the river-name treated as a weak sb. in -a ; 
and brycge is the dat. of A.S. brycg, a bridge. 



30 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

Gruntabrycg-sclr, i.e. Cambridge-shire ; A.S. Chronicle, 
under the date 1010. 

Orentebrige ; in Domesday Book. 

Grentebrigia (Latinised); Pipe Roll, a.d. 1130. 

Grantebrigesyre, Cambridge-shire ; in Henry of Huntingdon, 
ed. Arnold, p. 9 ; first half of the twelfth century. (But a later 
MS. has Kantebrigesire. The false spelling syre is due to 
a Norman scribe, writing .9 for sh.) 

Grantabric, Granthebrige ; Simeon of Durham, in the 
Record Series, pp. 82, 111 ; twelfth century. He also has the 
phrase supra Grentam fluvium. 

Grauntebruggescire ; Southern English Legendary, E.E.T.S. ; 
p. 347, 1. 66. About a.d. 1290. 

Graimtebrugge-ssire (with .9,9 for sh) ; Rob. of Gloucester, 
1. 132; about a.d. 1330 (date of the MS.). A later MS. 
(about 1400) has Gambrugge-schire. 

Grauntbrigge, used as a personal name ; Iohannes de 
Grauntbrigge, Abbreviatio Placitorum, p. 275 ; A.D. 1283. For 
examples of similar names, see the Patent Rolls, &c. The 
latest mention of a " Iohannes de Grauntbrigge, qui obiit sine 
herede," is in the Patent Rolls, p. 242 ; date, the second year of 
Henry IV. ; A.D. 1400 — 1. After this date, the form with 
initial Gr- seems to have perished, being superseded by the 
forms beginning with G. 

Historically, the form with Gr- was in sole use down to 
a.d. 1140; and in partial use down to A.D. 1400. 

The earliest date in which the initial G appears is in a 
document dated 1142. The form is Gantebruggescir ; see Notes 
and Queries, 8 S. viii. 314. The use of G for Gr arose from a 
Norman mispronunciation ; the dropping of the r, in particular, 
is clearly due to a wish to avoid the use of gr and br in the 
same word. This form soon became fashionable and common. 

Cantabrigia (Latinised) ; Pipe Rolls, 1150-61. 

Cantebrigia; Ramsey Chartulary, iii. 243; after 1161. 

Cantebrugescir ; Rotuli Chartarum in Turri ; vol. i. pars 1, 
80. A.D. 1200. 

Cantebrug ; Close Rolls, i. 381 ; A.D. 1218. 

Cauntebrigge as a personal name ; " Iohannes de Caunte- 



§ 8. NAMES ENDING IN -BRIDGE. 31 

brigge," as compared with " Iohannes tie Grauntbrigge " above ; 
Spelman, Glossarium, p. 544. 

It is a peculiarity of Anglo-French that it frequently turns 
ant into aunt ; this was due to the fact that a (before n) was 
sometimes nasal. It also turned the Lat. camera (O. French 
chambre) into chaumbre, or (without the nasal effect) into 
chaambre, with long Italian a. This is why the a in chamber 
is long in modern English. The point of this remark will 
soon be seen. 

Canbrigge (and of course also Caunbrigge), by the loss of t 
between n and b, where it is hard to sound it; Early Eng. 
Wills, ed. Furnivall, p. 105. a.d. 1436. 

Cambrugge (with mb for nb) in a rather late MS. (the 
Lansdowne MS.) of Chaucer's Cant. Tales; Reves Tale, first 
line. After a.d. 1400. So in Rob. Glouc , 1. 132 (MS. B.). 

Kawmbrege; Paston Letters, i. 82; a.d. 1449. 

Caumbrege; Paston Letters, i. 422; a.d. 1458. 

Gambryge (with a for an); Paston Letters, ii. 91 ; a.d. 1462. 
And this has produced the modern form, with long a as in 
chamber. 

The following points should be noted: (1) the name always 
begins with Gr down to 1140 ; (2) the initial C is first known 
in 1142 ; (3) the t dropped out about 1400, changing n into m; 
(4) the first three letters appear as Gam-, for the first time, 
after A.D. 1400. And all the while, the river was the Granta, 
though an attempt was made to call it the Cante in 1372; 
Willis and Clark, Hist, of Cambridge, i. 112. The name 
Granta appears repeatedly, and is still in use. " The river 
Grant from Cambridge" occurs in 1617 l . At last, when the 
name Cambridge was well established (after 1500), scholars, 
writing in Latin, coined the name Camus for the river, which 
they also sometimes spelt Chcimus. The Cambridge Review 
for Nov. 14, 1895, quoted at p. 74 some verses by Giles 
Fletcher, prefixed to an edition of Demosthenes published in 
1571, containing the line — 

Accipe quae nuper Chami fluentis ad undani. 

1 See The Fenland, Past and Present, p. 205. 



32 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

Hence Camden says : — " alii Grantam, Camum alii nuncupant " ; 
a.d. 1586. 

The English name Gam is later still ; first appearing about 
1600. In 1610, Speed's map of Cambridge shows the " Cam " ; 
and in 1613, Drayton mentions "Cam, her daintiest flood, long 
since intituled Grant " ; Polyolbion, song xxi. 1. 107. Cf. " Grant 
or Cam " ; Conybeare's Cambs., p. 249. 

It is worth mentioning that Camden was sadly misled 
when he identified Cambridge with the Latin Camboritum 
{Camboricum) owing to the similarity of the names. The 
identification may be correct on other grounds ; but the argu- 
ment from similarity of sound is naught. It is quite impossible 
that the Latin Camboricum can be allied, as to its name, with 
the Granta ; whilst, as for the Gam, it was never heard of, even 
as a part of the name of the town, till about 1400, at least a 
thousand years after the Roman name Gamboricum was first in 
use, and many centuries after it had been wholly forgotten. 
And the talk about the river's crookedness, merely because the 
modern Welsh word cam means crooked, is quite beside the 
purpose. 

Pearl's Bridge ; near Downham. Of this name I find no 
history. It is doubtless modern, 

Sturbridge. Also Stourbridge, as if it were " the bridge 
over the Stour." 

The celebrated "Stourbridge Fair," which suggested "Vanity 
Fair," was held in a field bounded on the North by the 
Cam, and on the East by the "Stour," a tiny rivulet which 
runs under a bridge on the Newmarket road, very near the 
railway to Waterbeach. See Conybeare's Cambs., p. 241. But 
it is to be feared that the name of this rivulet (like that of the 
Cam) is modern, and was invented to suit the exigencies 
of popular etymology. For in 1279 the name was written 
Steresbreg (Rot. Hund. ii. 438); as if from a personal name 
Ster. Cf. Searle's Onomasticon; and A.S. Steor, a steer or ox. 
At a later date the .<? dropped out ; we find " Sterrebridge apud 
Cantab." in the Patent Rolls, a.d. 1418-9 ; p. 267, col. 2. Cf. also 



§ 8. NAMES ENDING IN -BRIDGE, -HITHE. 33 

Steresgarth (Line.) in 1348-9 ; Abbreviatio Rot. Originalium, 
p. 196. 



HlTHE. 

Examples of Hithe occur in Clayhithe, Aldreth, and Earith. 
The name Clayhithe sounds somewhat modern, as the latter 
syllable preserves its distinctness. Still, it appears as Cleyhethe 
in 1284 (F.A. 135) and in 1279 (Rot. Hund. vol. ii.). 

Aldreth. Aldreth lies to the south of Haddenham and 
to the north of a tributary of the Ouse ; a long causeway 
here crosses the fenland towards Balsar's (or Belsar's) Hill. It 
was on the south-west shore of the Isle of Ely, and may very 
well have been named from possessing a hithe, which Kemble 
defines as " a place that receives a ship on its landing, a low 
shore, fit to be a landing-place for boats." It is only some four 
miles in a direct line from Earith, which was named for a 
similar reason, and is situate close to the Ouse itself. The 
form of the word is a little difficult. The former part of it 
appears as Aire- in the Pipe Rolls for 1170, 1171, and 1172, 
also as Alder-, Alther- in the Cartularium Monasterii de 
Rameseia (see Index). Perhaps these forms answer to A.S. 
alor-, air-, aire-, combining forms of air, alor, M.E. alder, an 
alder-tree. As to the latter part of the word, we find, in the 
Ramsey Chronicle, Alder-hithe, Alder-hethe, Alther -hethe, and 
the Latinised forms Alre-heda, Alder-heda. The Pipe Rolls 
have Alre-heda, Alre-hedra (with r wrongly inserted), and 
Alre-hudra (for Alre-huda) ; and since the final -da is a Latin 
substitution for -the, the form of the suffix is really -hithe, 
-hethe, -huthe. These represent the A.S. hptS, a hithe, of which 
later forms were hithe and huthe (regularly), and the late 
Kentish hffi, which gives hethe (Sievers, A.S. Grammar, 1898, 
§ 154). The last form can be accounted for by the fact that 
scribes were not unfrequently taught in Kent. On the whole, 
the probability of this interpretation seems correct; especially 
as the forms for Earith are similar. See the note on the 
boundaries of the Isle of Ely, at p. 52. 

C. A. S. Octavo Series. No. XXXVI. 3 



34 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

Earith. Spelt Erhith in Sprott's Chronicle. Obviously 
the same name as Erith in Kent, which is written Earhyth in 
Kemble, Cod. Dip], i. 44 ; and EarhtiS (both vowels accented) 
in the same, vi. 127. The Ramsey Chronicle has the spellings 
Herhethe, Herhythe, Herithe, Erithe, Erethe, with reference to 
Earith in Cambs. ; and as the initial H is merely due to the 
freak of a Norman scribe, these can be reduced to Erhythe, 
Erithe, Erhethe, Erethe. And as in the case of the name above, 
the y and * represent the Wessex y in hy8, and the e represents 
the Kentish e. As to Ear, the sense is known ; it was the 
name of one of the Runic letters, and is used in a poem to 
signify " earth " ; a word rare in A.S., but very common in 
Scandinavian. For, as the A.S. ea is etymologically equivalent 
to the Icel. an, we find a more exact sense by looking out aurr 
in the Icelandic Dictionary, from which we learn that it means 
wet clay, wet soil, or mud ; with reference, perhaps, to the silt 
deposited by the salt water of the Wash. The sense, in fact, 
is fairly given by " muddy landing-place " or " silt-hithe." At 
the same time, the Dan. or signifies "gravel," and the Swed. 
dial, or means "a sandy shore"; both are common in place- 
names. Elsinore is, properly, Helsing-or. The modern spelling 
of Earith simulates A.S. ea-rift, both members meaning 
" stream " ; but the old spellings show that it was a hithe. 



The suffix -low. 

A loiv or law (A.S. hlaw) is a mound or rising ground ; 
sometimes natural and sometimes artificial. In the latter case, 
it generally means a burial mound or barrow. It occurs in 
Bartlow, Tadlow, and Triplow. 

BARTLOW. A modern form ; formerly Bevkloio, as in Fuller's 
Worthies; spelt Berkelowe in 1316; Berklowe in 1428 (F.A., 
155, 192). As to the sense of Berk-, we have only to refer to 
the various spellings of Barham (p. 20), in order to see that 
Berk was a Norman form due to the A.S. beorh, a hill, a 
tumulus, or a funeral barrow. It is clear that we have here an 
instance in which an old name has been explained and trans- 



§ 8. NAMES ENDING IN -HITHE, -LOW, -WELL. 35 

lated by one that happened to be better understood by the 
particular people who renamed it. The literal sense is "barrow," 
repeated in a different form. It may be noted that Barham 
Hall is near Bartlow, and that there are conspicuous tumuli in 
the neighbourhood. 

Tadlow. The old spelling is Tadelowe, in 1302 (F.A.). 
Domesday Book has Tadelai, where lai is an incorrect rendering 
of the Old English sound ; indeed, I.C.C. has Tadeslawe. The 
suffix -low means " funeral mound " or tumulus, as before. The 
prefix Tade represents the A.S. Tadan, as seen again in Tadan- 
ledh, now Tadley, in Hants. ; see Kemble's Index. Tadan is 
the gen. case of the personal name Tdda or Tada ; for the 
length of the vowel is not quite certain. It is perhaps related 
to the tad- in tadpole, and to A.S. tadige, a toad. The Ramsey 
Chartulary mentions a tenant named Edric Tode. 

Triplow. We find the old spellings Trippelowe in 1276 
(Rot. Hund. i. 52), and Trippelawe in 1302 (F.A.) ; Domesday 
Book has Trepeslau; I.C.C. has Trepeslau, Treppelau. A late 
AS. Charter has Tripelau (an Anglo-French spelling), mis- 
printed Tripelan ; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 245. Trippe repre- 
sents an A.S. Trippan, gen. of Trippa, a personal name of 
which there is no other record. The tumulus at Triplow is 
marked on the Ordnance Map. The spelling Thriplow (with 
Th) seems to be a Norman eccentricity, like our present 
spelling of Thames; cf. Thofte for Toft, p. 73. 



The suffix -well. 

The following names end in -well, viz. Barnwell, Burwell, 
Knapwell, Orwell, Outwell, Snailwell, Upwell. They refer to 
the word well in its usual sense. 

Barnwell. The old spelling is Bernewell, in the time of 
Henry III. and later. Somewhat earlier is Beornewelle, in a 
late copy of a Charter dated 1060 ; Thorpe, Diplom. p. 383. 
So also in the Ramsey Chartulary. The prefix has nothing to 

3-2 



36 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

do with the A.S. beam, a child, as has often, I believe, been 
suggested 1 ; but represents Beornan, gen. of Beorna, a pet-name 
for a name beginning with Beorn-. It is worth noting that, 
as appears from Kemble's Index, the prefix beorn, a warrior, 
occurs at least nine times in place-names, whilst beam, a child, 
does not occur at all. And again, the prefix Beorn- occurs in 
more than 200 instances in Searle's Onomasticon ; whereas the 
occurrence of Beam is rare, and perhaps doubtful. The dif- 
ference between the words, which are quite distinct, is admirably 
illustrated in the New Eng. Diet., under the words berne and 
bairn. 

Burwell. Spelt Burewelle in Domesday Book ; Burge- 
welle in 1346 (F.A.) ; Burewelle in a late copy of the charter of 
1060; Thorpe, Diplom. 383. It is to be compared with 
Buregwell, Burliwylla, Byrgwylla in Kemble's Index. Thus 
the prefix is bnrge,gen. case of the A.S. burh, a borough, a fort; 
which probably stood on the spot where King Stephen after- 
wards constructed a castle ; cf. Conybeare, Hist. Cambs. p. 114. 

But I.C.G. has Buruuelle, as if the original were simply 
burh-wylle, " borough-well." The difference is slight. 

Knapwell. Formerly Gnapwelle, in 1330 (Cat. Ancient 
Deeds, vol. 2) ; Domesday Book has Ghenepewelle, where the 
initial Ch represents K, and the following e is inserted merely 
to enable the unfortunate Norman to pronounce the initial Kn, 
A.S. Cn. For the spelling Cnapemvelle, see the footnote no. 12 
to Thorpe, Diplom. p. 383 ; and compare Gnapenewelle, Gnappe- 
welle, in the Ramsey Chartulary (index). The prefix repre- 
sents A.S. Cnapan, gen. case of Gnapa, a known name. The 
spelling Gnapenwelle shows that it is not from A.S. cmep (gen. 
enwppes), a hill-top. 

Orwell. Formerly Orewelle, in 1284 (F.A.); the form 
Norwelle (in 1210, R.B.) is due to a misapprehension of the 
phrase atten Orewelle, " at the Orewelle," which is a common 
formula in Middle English. Domesday Book has Oreuuelle, 

1 See the highly imaginative passage to this effect, quoted in Conybeare's 
History, App. p. 291. 



§ 8. NAMES ENDING IN -WELL. 37 

also Orduuelle, Oreduuelle ; but the d is a Norman insertion, 
and may be neglected ; cf. Oreuuella in I.C.C. The prefix is 
the A.S. oran, gen. case of ora, a border, edge, brink, or margin ; 
which, as Prof. Toller notes, is common in place-names, though 
it usually comes at the end rather than at the beginning. 
Still we have Oran-tueg in Kemble's Index ; and such place- 
names as Or-cop, Heref. ; Or-ford, Suff., Or-ton, Cumb. ; and 
Ore, standing alone, in Sussex, also spelt Oare, as in Kent. 
The sense is " well beside the brink." 

Out-well. I.e. the well lying just outside the village. 
From A.S. ut, out. 

Snail-well. Compounded of snail and well, as the old 
spellings show. Mr Foster gives Sneilwella (1169, P.R.) ; 
Sneyllwelle (1441, Cat. Anc. Deeds, vol. 2); Sneilewelle (1302), 
Sneylwelle (1316), Snaylleivelle (1284), Snaylewell (1428, F.A.). 
A late copy of a charter of Edward the Confessor has Sneille- 
welle ; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 245 ; cf. Snegeluuelle in I.C.C. 
We may be reminded that many place-names were conferred 
for trivial reasons. The false spelling Sneilewelle in Domesday 
Book has misled some writers, who have referred it to Snell as 
a man's name, as in Snelston, Derbyshire, where the inserted s 
is significant. But even the modern pronunciation is some- 
times more correct than Domesday Book ; as several examples 
show. It was not till the end of the thirteenth century that 
the Normans at last controlled the spelling of English. I may 
add that the small river flowing from this place is now called 
the River Snail. 

Upwell. From up and well ; a well that is above the 
path-way. Compare Up-ham, Up-wood, and the 24 Up-tons. 



§ 9. The suffixes camp, Chester, dike, hale, hirn, 
lode, port, retii, ware. 

Besides the above, there are other suffixes referring to other 
artificial features, which may be here noticed ; such as camp, 
Chester, dike, hale, hirn, lode, port, reth, ware. 



38 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

Camp. Our word camp, in the sense of encampment, is 
comparatively modern in literature, and due to the Italian 
campo ; see the New Eng. Diet. The A.S. Diet, only gives 
camp in the sense of " battle," the sense of " encampment " 
being denoted by camp-stede. Nevertheless, the A.S. camp, in 
place-names, and there only, has also the sense of " open field " 
or "plain ground"; a sense which was borrowed immediately 
from the Lat. campus. This is proved by the occurrence in 
Kemble's Index of the form Gampswtena gemcero, which 
Bosworth's Dictionary does not notice ; it cannot have any 
other sense than " boundaries of the settlers in the camp " or 
" field." The sense of " battle " is here impossible. So also in 
Todan camp ; Birch, C.S. ii. 585, 1. 8. 

That the word camp (as a place-name) is old, is proved by 
its occurrence as Campes in I.C.C., and by the characteristic 
Norman spelling Gaumpes in 1302 (F.A.), with reference to 
Shudy Camps. We also find, with reference to Shudy Camps, 
the forms Schude Camp, 1284, Scliode Gaumpes, 1302 (F.A.). 
Compare also the name Martin de Campo, in the Ramsey 
Chartulary. 

Castle-Camps; i.e. "castle fields." It requires no further 
illustration. 

Shudy Camps. Shudy is said (in the Hist. Cambs., 1851) 
to have been the name of a family who once possessed the 
manor; but it arose, nevertheless, from the name of some place. 
The variation from u to o in the spellings Schude, Schode, 
shows that the u was originally short. Indeed, the fondness of 
Norman scribes for writing o instead of short u is notorious ; 
we all write monk to this day instead of munk. Moreover, 
the modern pronunciation shows the same thing ; for a long 
u would have produced a modern ow, as in cow from cu. As 
the M.E. u not unfrequently represents the A.S. y, the A.S. 
form (without the suffix) would be scydd. This form is given 
by Toller, with a difficult quotation from Kemble's Charters. 
He proposes the sense " alluvial ground" ; and correctly equates 
it to G. schutt. We have, in fact, some choice of senses ; 



§ 9. NAMES ENDING IN CAMP, -CHESTER. 39 

the E. Friesic schudde (like Du. schadde) means " a sod, a 
piece of turf"; the Low G. schudde means "alluvial soil"; 
and the G. schutt means " a bank of earth, a mound," or some- 
times "rubble." My guess is that Shudy originally referred to 
some peculiarity of the soil of some (unknown) place. There 
was a Shudeford in Devon (In. p. m., p. 71). 

Chester. This represents the A.S. ceaster, borrowed from 
the Latin castrum, a camp. The sole examples are Chester-ton 
and Grant-chester. The latter means the camp beside the 
Granta. Chesterton is spelt Cestretone in Domesday Book, 
where Ce denotes the sound of E. Che ; and conversely, the 
Norman Che denotes E. Ke, as already shown. There is a 
Chesterton in Warwickshire which shows the true A.S. spelling 
Ceaster-tun ; see Kemble's Index. 

As for Grantchester, the A.S. spelling is Grantaceaster in 
Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iii. 58, 1. 4. The charter is probably spurious 
as far as the Latin part of it is concerned ; but it is worth 
notice that the phrase " in prouincia Grantaceaster " certainly 
seems to mean Cambridgeshire. The spelling Granteceaster 
occurs in section 3 of the Life of St Guthlac, ed. Goodwin, 
p. 20, where the river is called the Grante ; and the passage is 
so curious that I quote Goodwin's translation. " There is in 
Britain a fen of immense size, which begins from the river 
Grante not far from the ceaster, which is named Granteceaster. 
There are immense marshes, now a black pool of water, now 
foul running streams, and also many islands, and reeds, and 
hillocks, and thickets; and with manifold windings wide and 
long it continues up to the north sea." But there is a far older 
reference in Beda, Eccl. Hist. iv. 19 : — "uenerunt ad ciuitatulam 
quaudam desolatam...quae lingua Anglorum Granta caestir 
uocatur " ; see the ed. by Mayor and Lumby, p. 128, 1. 28. 

In a passage in Lysons' Hist, of Cambridgeshire, p. 202, it 
is noted that Walter de Merton gave to Merton College, Oxford, 
a certain " manerium de Grauntesethe " ; and it has often, I 
believe, been supposed that this form is only another spelling 
of Grantchester. Such seems to be the fact ; though there may 



40 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

have been some confusion with the A.S. scete, " settlers." Mr 
Foster has also noted the spellings Grantecete (1284), Gransete 
(1302), Graunsete (1428), in F.A., 137, 146, 194. I find in 
Domesday Book Granteseta, Grantesete; and Grenteseta in I.C.C., 
p. 70. 

Dike. This has already occurred in the name Ditton. I 
find in Conybeare's Cambridgeshire, p. 14, a reference to the 
Brand Ditch, the Brent Ditch, the Fleam Dike, and the Devil's 
Dike. The explanation of the names Brand and Brent, as 
meaning " burnt," is incorrect. The fact is that Brand Ditch 
clearly stands for Brant Ditch, the t followed by d becoming d 
by assimilation. And Brant is a mere variety of Brent ; both 
words mean " steep," and are explained in the New English 
Dictionary. The reference is to the remarkably steep sides of 
the dikes. The phrase " highe bonkkes and brent," i.e. " high 
and steep banks," occurs in Sir Gawain and the Grene Knight, 
1. 2165; and Ascham, in his Toxophilus (ed. Arber, p. 58) 
speaks of " a brante hyll-syde." The A.S. for " burnt " never 
takes the form brent, which is merely Middle English. 

Neither has the Fleam Dike any connexion with " flame," 
which is a foreign word, unknown in England before 1300. 
There is a Cambridgeshire hundred, called Flendish, which 
is merely a variant of the same word. The old spellings (P.R ., 
F.A.) are Flemedich (1158), Flemesdich (1284), Flemdiche (1302, 
1401). By the action of the d on the preceding m, the last 
became Flendiche in 1428 ; and the latter syllable was turned 
into -dish at a still later date. Diche is, of course, our modern 
ditch, a mere variant of dike ; see the New English Dictionary. 
And it is obvious that the Mid. Eng. Fleme is the modern E. 
Fleam. The spellings in Domesday Book present a startling 
variation. It gives the name of the hundred as Flamingdice 
and Flamiding or Flammiding. The latter forms are obviously 
incorrect, and due to putting the ng in the wrong syllable 
when attempting to pronounce the word ; the right form is 
clearly Flaming-dice, where dice is the Norman spelling 
of diche, the M.E. form of ditch. Cf. also Flamencdic, Flam- 
mincdic, in I.C.C. Hence the original form of the prefix was 



§ 9. NAMES ENDING IN DIKE, -HALE. 41 

certainly Flamenc in the time of the Conqueror. This word is 
not A.S., but O.Fr. Flamenc, represented by the Late Lat. 
Flaming us, a Fleming. Ducange quotes an example from a 
French document dated 1036, or thirty years before the 
Conquest ; and the Old Norse form Flcemingi is given in Vig- 
fusson l . Why it received this name, we have of course no 
means of knowing. The subsequent change to Fleam Dike 
was probably due to popular etymology, which connected the 
name with the A.S. fleam, flight, and fliema, a fugitive; as if it 
were the dike of fugitives or of refuge. It is certainly curious 
that, on a visit to the Fleam Dike, I met with an inhabitant 
of the neighbourhood who wished me to understand that the 
dike had been made by the Flemings ; so that the tradition of 
the name in Domesday Book is remembered even at the 
present day. The spelling Flemigdich (error for Flemingdich) 
appears as late as 1279, in the Hundred Rolls, ii. 445. 

Hale. The suffix -hale occurs only in Yen Hall, formerly 
Enhale, and in Mep-hale, the old spelling of Mepal in F.A., in 
1302, 1337, 1346, 1428, and much later. The word hale, 
" a corner, nook, a secret place," is fully explained in the New 
Eng. Dictionary ; from heale, hale, dat. of A.S. healh, Old 
Mercian halh, a derivative from the second grade of A.S. helan, 
to hide. We may here explain it by " retreat." 

Mepal. In this form, the prefix Mep- is probably personal. 
It occurs again in Mep-ham, Kent; of which the A.S. forms 
are Meapa-ham, Meapham ; see Kemble's Index. The ea is 
long, because short ea does not occur between an m and a p. 
There is no further trace of it. Meapa looks like a genitive 
plural, as if Meapas was the name of a tribe. 

Enhale. This is an old parish which, as I am informed, 
has been absorbed into West Wickham"-' ; and the only trace of 
the name is that a Yen Hall still exists there. However, the 
spelling Enhale occurs in 1279 (Hund. Rolls, vol. ii.), in 1302 
and 1346 (F.A. 145, 163); and Enhall iu 1316 (F.A. 155). 

1 The Ramsey Chartulary mentions a Robert le Flemming. 

- "Enhale est hamelett' pe/'tin' ad Wycham" ; Rot. Hundred, ii. 429. 



42 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

The A.S. form is Ean-heale (dative) in Birch, Cart. Sax. iii. 629, 
in connexion with W ratting, Wickham, and Balsham, all in its 
immediate neighbourhood. The Ea in Ean- must be long. I 
can only suggest that this prefix is short for Eanan (see Birch, 
Cart. Sax. ii. 296, 1. 10), gen. of Eana, a known pet-name. 

Hirn. The suffix -hirn occurs only in Guy-hirn, and 
presents no difficulty. It is the word hern or hirn, " a corner, 
nook, or hiding-place," fully explained in the New Eng. 
Dictionary, at p. 245 of the letter H. The A.S. form is hyrne. 
The name Guy is not A.S., but Norman ; so that the village 
dates from after the Norman Conquest. The sense is " Guy's 
retreat." The Ramsey Chartulary mentions twenty men of 
this name. 

Lode. This important word denotes a water-course, and 
represents the A.S. lad, a way, course, especially a water-course ; 
and is the word from which the verb to lead is derived. We 
have examples in Bottisham Lode, S waff ham Bulbeck Lode, 
and others. It occurs also in the place-name Ox-lode, near 
Down ham, which is probably not a word of great antiquity, as 
it never seems to be mentioned. 

Port. This occurs in Littleport, which is found in Domes- 
day Book as Litelport. The force of the prefix is obvious. The 
A.S. port is merely borrowed from Latin, and has two distinct 
senses. In the first instance, it represents Lat. porta, a gate, 
which is of rare occurrence. Otherwise (as doubtless here) it 
represents Lat. portus ; and it meant not only a port or haven, 
but also a town. See port in Toller's A.S. Dictionary. In 
early times, the sea not only came up to Littleport, but even 
further south. In The Fenland, p. 576, we read : — " Once the 
mouth of the Ouse was at Littleport." 

Reth. This suffix occurs in Shep-reth and Meld-reth ; 
but not in Aldreth, which is to be divided as Aldr-eth (see 
p. 33). Meld-reth is to be thus divided, because the old spelling 
of Melboum is Melde-bourne, with the same prefix Meld-, the 
two places lying close together. It is quite true that the 



§ 9. NAMES IN -HIRN, -LODE, -POUT, -RETH. 43 

spelling Melrede, without d, occurs in Domesday Book ; but the 
same authority gives us Melleburne for the A.S. Meldeburne, 
and the loss of the d after I is regular in Anglo-French, which 
actually has such spellings as hel for E. held, and shel for M.E. 
sheld, E. shield, as in the Lay of Havelok. Besides which, 
I.C.C. has the true form Meldrethe in full. The form 
Meldeburn occurs as late as in Fuller's Worthies. The Domesday 
spelling of Shepreth is nothing short of comic, being Escep-ride ; 
where we note the Norman inability to sound the A.S. sc (E. 
sh) without prefixing an e, and the equal inability to pronounce 
the E. th, as is shown still more clearly in I.C.C, which has the 
spelling Scepereie (with the th suppressed). In 1302 and 1316 
we find the form Scheperethe (Feudal Aids). 

I do not accept the suggestion that -reth represents the 
A.S. ?iS or ri$e, a stream, a word still extant, in the form rithe, 
in the South of England. For the final th in this word was 
usually dropped, as in Shottery, A.S. Scotta-rift, Childrey, A.S. 
Cilla-rVS. And further, the A.S. I is never represented by M.E. 
e, and we really must pay some regard to our vowels, instead 
of pursuing the slovenly habit of the antiquarians of the last 
century, who disregarded all vowel-sounds with supreme in- 
difference, chiefly because they wanted to guess with the 
greater freedom. 

As the word has never been explained, I venture upon a 
guess of my own, which will, at any rate, accord with the sound. 
I take it to be the unaccented form of our common word wreath. 
The A.S. wraft, also wrced, means a wreath, a ring (as, for 
instance, a crown or neck-ornament) ; also, a bandage ; hence, 
possibly, a fence of twisted or wreathed hurdles. And if this 
can be admitted, we at once have a suffix with much the same 
sense as the Friesian hamm, an enclosure. This would also 
explain the connexion with Shep-, which obviously represents 
sheep, as in the common compound shepherd. In the case of 
Meld-reth, the old spelling of Melbourne, viz. the late A.S. 
Meldeburne (in I.C.C. and in Kemble's Index) shows that the 
prefix is Melde. This represents an earlier form Meldan, gen. 
of the pet-name Melda, which occurs in Meldan-lge (Kemble). 
There is also an A.S. melda which means " an informer." 



44 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

Ware. This occurs in Upware, on the river Granta (Cam), 
between Waterbeach and Ely ; which is spelt Upwere in 1349, 
in the Pedes Finium, ed. W. Rye. Here up means "above," 
with reference to its situation with respect to those who 
bestowed the name ; and ware, M.E. luere, is another form of 
weir, which was often used in a rather vague way. It not only 
signified a weir or dam, but also a mill-pool, or, more generally, 
any fishing-pool where there was hardly any perceptible flow 
of water. For example, where our Prayer-book version of 
Ps. cvii. 35 has " he maketh the wilderness a standing water," 
the Vulgate version has stagna, and the Early English Psalter 
published by the Surtees Society has iveres of watres. Compare 
the passage in the Laud MS. of the A.S. Chronicle, under the 
date 656, where there is mention of " wateres and meres and 
fennes and weres," i.e. waters and meres, and fens and weirs. 
As to the spelling ware for weir, see Miss Jackson's Shropshire 
Glossary. I suppose Upware to mean " upper pool " ; and that 
a ware or weir differs from a natural pool as having been caused 
artificially by the construction of a dam and being well adapted 
for catching fish. Thus in the Inquisitio Eliensis, p. 190, we 
read : — " Hec sunt piscaria monachorum elyensium : Gropwere, 
Chydebeche, Fridai, Bramewere, Vttrewere [Outer-weir], Land- 
were, Burringewere,...Biwere [By-weir], Northwere, &c." 



§ 10. The suffixes beach, bourn, den, down, ea or ey, 
fen, field, heath, lea, mere, pool, wade. 

Besides the suffixes relating to occupation or artificial 
works, we find others relating to natural objects, such as beach, 
bourn, den, doiun, ea or ey (island), fen, field, heath, lea, mere, 
over (bank), wade. These will now be considered in order. 

Beach. As in Landbeach, Waterbeach, and Wisbeach. 
Beach is a difficult word, for which the N.E.D. should be 
consulted. There is no doubt that it often means " shingle " ; 
and on this account the authors of The Fenland Past and 
Present have raised the objection that there is no shingle to 



§§ 9, 10. NAMES ENDING IN -WARE, -BEACH. 45 

be found at Waterbeach ; and so they refer us to the A.S. bee, 
or becc, a beck, or river. This, however, is quite useless, for 
two reasons ; the first is, that beck is not in use in Cambridge- 
shire, but belongs to Lincolnshire and the Northern counties ; 
and the other is that the A.S. bee, which is unauthorised, is 
merely a borrowed word from Norse, and never appears in a 
palatalised form, such as betch ; and even if it did, betch is not 
the same thing as beach. The objection, however, is of no 
consequence, because beach certainly has also the vaguer sense 
of bank or strand or shore, which is obviously what is here 
intended \ Waterbeach stood upon the old shore of the 
estuary of the Wash, and Landbeach merely differed from it in 
being a little further inland. This is no doubt the reason why 
the names given in Domesday Book are, respectively, Bech (or 
Bece) and Utbech; i.e. Beach as representing Waterbeach, and 
Utbech, i.e. Out-beach, signifying a place a little further from 
the water; (unless, indeed, the contrary be intended, for 'out' 
is somewhat vague)' 2 . It is unfortunate that Bosvvorth's 
Dictionary gives, as the sole example of bee, a river, a different 
form bcec, which must have meant a valley or a river-bank, 
closely related to bcecc (as in Bceccesivyrth, Batchworth, in the 
Crawford Charters) ; of which the palatalised form bache exists 
in provincial Euglish and in Middle English, as well as in 
place-names, such as Pulverbatch in Salop. This is the word, 
in fact, with which beach is much more likely to be connected ; 
the usual sense of bache 3 being simply valley. It seems likely 
that the original sense of beach was a shore or river-bank, 
on which in some cases stones were deposited, giving it a 
secondary sense of pebbles or shingle. In the instances of 
Landbeach, Waterbeach, and Wisbeach, the shingle is not 
necessary to the explanation, and we may content ourselves 
with the simpler sense of " shore." 

1 There was a name Cheselbeche in 1617 (Fenland, p. 206). Chetel means 
" shingle" (see N.E.D.) ; and Cheselbeche means " shingle-shore," not "shingle- 
shingle " or "shingle-beck." Waterbeche occurs in 1279 (Hand. Rolls). 

2 I observe, in Domesday Book, a mention of mille anguillarum in connexion 
with Bech and Bece, which suggests that it was near the water. 

3 I have heard it called batch, and have seen it spelt baitch, which agrees 
exactly with the old pronunciation of beacli. 



46 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

Wisbeach. We have here to consider the prefix. We find 
the form Wisebeche in a late copy of a charter ; Kemble, Cod. 
Dipl. v. 4, where the spelling is Norman. Again, in the Laud 
MS. of the A.S. Chronicle, an. 656, we find Wisebece, where 
bece is not the dat. of the alleged A.S. bec(c), a river, but is a 
Norman spelling of bcece, the dat. of bcec, as explained at p. 45. 
The Norman scribes very soon expunged ce from the alphabet, 
substituting for it sometimes a and sometimes e, because the 
sound of the A.S. ce (modern Southern English a in cat) lay 
somewhere between the French a and e. Wise (pronounced as 
wissy) is, apparently, another spelling of Use (Ouse), which also 
appears as Wuse ; for which see the A.S. Chronicle. When the 
Norman scribes introduced the French ou for the A.S. u, the 
spelling became Ouse ; and has so remained ever since. The 
form Wis- was sometimes prefixed to the A.S. ea, Mid. Eng. ee, 
a stream, giving the form Wis-ee (Ouse-stream), now turned 
into Wissey, and still in use as the name of an affluent of 
the Ouse near Hilgay. The Ouse once flowed past Wisbeach 
(see The Fenland, p. 82); but our modern maps call the river 
the Nene. 

Bourn, a small river ; as in Bourne, Bassingbourn, Fulbourn, 
Melbourn. From A.S. burn. The place now called Bourne 
was originally called by the Norse name Brunne (Norw. brunn), 
of which the English bourne was a later translation. It appears 
as Brum in Domesday Book, and as Brunne in 1171, 1190, 
1194, and 1210, in which last year Burne also occurs (R.B.). 

Bassing-bourn. The old spellings do not materially differ ; 
Bassingeburne occurs in the Chronicle of Ramsey Abbey. 
Bossing is a tribal name ; the name Bass occurs in the A.S. 
Chronicle, under the date 669. In I.C.C. we find Basingeburna. 

Fulbourn. Domesday Book has Fuleberne, an error for 
Fuleborne; cf. Fuleburna in I.C.C. In Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 
245, a late copy of a charter of 1060, the spelling is Fuulbume. 
The prefix represents the A.S. ful, modern E. foul, dirty or 



§ 10. NAMES ENDING IN -BEACH, -DEN. 47 

turbid. For other instances of the use of the same prefix, see 
Kemble's Index. 

Melbourn. Spelt Meldeburna in Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iii. 60. 
Melde represents Meldan, gen. case of Melda, a personal name, 
as shown under Meldreth (p. 43). 



-den. 

With the suffix -den, we find Croydon or Crawden, Gransden ; 
also Eversden, Guilden Morden, and Steeple Morden, in which 
-den has been substituted for -don. 

Den is a variant of dene or dean, a vale ; see Dean (2) in 
the New Eng. Dictionary, where examples of the form den are 
given. The A.S. form is derm. 

Croydon is a comparatively modern form ; the older form 
was Crawden. I find Grauden in Fuller's Worthies ; and 
Mr Foster notes Graudene in F.A., viz. in 1302, 1346, 1428, 
and Croudene (= Groivdene) in 1316; the Ramsden Chartulary 
has Crouedene, and Domesday Book has Crauuedene, with uu 
for w, whence Graweden in 1238 (Pedes Finium). Grawe 
represents the A.S. craivan, gen. of the weak fem. sb crawe, a 
crow, which also occurs as a female name. The sense is 
" Crow's vale." In Kemble's Index we find eleven examples 
of the form craivan. The Gray- in Croyland is a different 
word ; as the A.S. name was Gruwland or Cridand. 

Eversden. Spelt Everes-dene in 1316 (F.A. i. 157), but 
Eversdone in 1302 (F.A. i. 149), Everesdon in 1291 (Taxatio 
Eccles. p. 266) ; Auresdone in Domesday Book. In I.C.C. it is 
Eueresdona. Hence the suffix was really -don, not -den. The 
A.S. form would be Eof ores-dun, where Eofores is the gen. case 
of Eofor, a personal name of which the literal sense, like that 
of the Ger. eber, is "a boar." The name occurs in Beowulf; 
in fact, the gen. case Eofores will be found in 1. 2486. Compare 
Eversley (Hants.) ; i.e. " boar's lea." It may be noted that the 
substitution of -den for -don is later than A.D. 1300. 



48 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

Gransden. Formerly Grantesdene, in 1210 (R.B.), and 
1316 (F.A. i. 157); in 1393, the form is Grandesden (Ely 
Registers); after which the d dropped out, giving the modern 
form. The s seems to have been a later insertion, as we find 
the form Grentedene in a copy of a Charter made after the 
Conquest ; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 245, and again in the 
Cartularium Monasterii de Rameseia. Domesday Book has 
Gratedene, with n omitted ; it is Grantendene in I.C.C. This 
is an Anglo-French spelling, representing an A.S. form Grante- 
denu, Granta-denu, or Grantan-denu. The sense is " vale of the 
Granta " ; and is interesting as shewing that there was a second 
Granta in the same county ; for the stream which passes near 
Little and Great Gransden is an affluent of the Ouse at a point 
near St Neot's, and distinct from the Granta which flows 
through Cambridge. 

Morden. The spelling Mordene occurs in 1236 and later 
(R.B.); but we also find Mordone in 1166, Mordune in 1210 
(R.B.), Mordune in I.C.C. and in Domesday Book. If these 
latter spellings are correct, the right form is Mordon, answering 
to A.S. Mor-dun, lit. " moor-down." Supposing, however, that 
Morden were correct, the A.S. form would be Mor-denu, lit. 
" moor- valley " ; with reference to the small stream which 
passes near the two Mordens. But the early evidence in favour 
of the etymology from down can be supplemented, and is quite 
conclusive 1 . Mor- occurs in a great many places, and is the 
shortened form of A.S. mor, a moor ; the vowel being shortened, 
as usual, when followed by two consonants. Compare such 
forms as Morley and Morton, and particularly the form West- 
morland, i.e. " West moorland." There are two Mordens ; 
Guilden Morden and Steeple Morden. The latter was no 
doubt named from having a church with a conspicuous steeple. 
The epithet Guilden is less clear. It is worth noticing that 
there is a Sutton in Cheshire called Guilden Sutton ; with the 
same epithet. It is spelt Gildene in 1316, and Gyldene in 
1346 (F.A. i. 156, 171); but also Gilden (without final e) 
in 1342 (Ely Registers), and Gylden in 1302 (F.A.). As to 

1 Morden in Surrey is likewise a corruption of Mordon (Crawford Charters). 



§ 10. NAMES ENDING TN -DON. 49 

what it means, I can only give a guess ; the form would 
accurately represent the A.S. gyldena, gen. pi. of gylda, a 
guild-brother ; as if it were " the Morden of the guild-brothers " ; 
but this requires confirmation by the help of historical research. 
Whatever be the explanation, it must satisfy the case of the 
Cheshire village also, which is a very small place, having less 
than 200 inhabitants. In a Hist, of Cambs., dated 1851, it is 
stated that the manor of this Morden was held by four owners 
conjointly ; which perhaps explains it. Cf. Guildford. 

The above solution is strongly supported by the spellings 
Geldenemordon (1255) and Guldenemordon (1317), found in the 
Index to the Charters and Rolls ; for geldene, guldene point to 
the A.S. gyldena as their origin. 



Down, -don. 

Down, from the A.S. dun, is a flattened hill, and well 
known. We have already had an example in Downham. It 
is naturally rare as a suffix in our flat county : but we have an 
example in Whaddon, as well as in Morden (rightly Mordon), 
and likewise in Eversdeu, as shewn above; pp. 47, 48. The first 
is spelt Wliaddone in 1302 (F.A. i. 150); but, as the Norman 
scribes usually substituted w for wh, we find also Waddon in 
1210 (R.B.), and Wadone, Wadune in Domesday Book. The 
astonishing form Phwaddane (with Phw for Wh) occurs in 
I.C.C., p. 107, and is highly significant. There are two other 
Whaddons, and a Waddon in Surrey, all derived from the same 
form, viz. A.S. Hivcete-dun, lit. " wheat-down." This form, 
Hwcete-diin, occurs in an early and genuine Will, of the ninth 
century; see Birch, Cart. Saxon, ii. 196; and the M.E. Whatdon 
occurs in 1287, in the Abbreviatio Rotulorum, p. 55. Kemble 
identifies HwaBtedun with Wotton in Surrey, and Earle follows 
him, in the index to his Land Charters, p. 495. But the 
identification will suit Waddon (in Surrey) equally well, and 
even better. The identification with Wotton is obviously 
based on the fact that Hwietedun is mentioned in connection 
with Gatton in the same county ; but GattoD is ten miles (in 

C. A. S. Octavo Series. No. XXXVI. 4 



50 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 






direct distance) from Wotton, whereas from Waddon it is only 
eight ; and Wotton would be better explained as being equiva- 
lent to Wootton ; from wood and town. Observe, further, that 
when a word ending in a consonant is compounded with a 
second that begins with one, the second consonant remains 
unaltered. Cupboard is not pronounced as cuppoard, but as 
cubboard; so that Whaddon must always have ended in -dov 
or -dun, just as Wotton has always ended in -ton or -tun. 



-EA AND -EV. 

We have some place-names ending in -ea, as Anglesea, 
Estrea, Horningsea, Manea, Stonea, Whittlesea; one in -ay, 
as Barw-ay ; and some in -ey, as Coveney, Ramsey, Stuntney, 
Swavesey, Thorney, and Welney; to which we may add Wendy, 
ending in -y ; but not Ely. At the same time we may consider 
such names as Gamlingay, Lingay, and Shengay. A careful 
survey of these words shews that in no case does the suffix 
represent the A.S. ea, a stream (which became ee), but only its 
derivative eg or ig, an island. Of these forms ig is the usual 
Wessex form, represented in later times by a simple final -y, 
while eg is the O. Mercian and Northumbrian form, and ey 
(if old) is Norse. In Cambs. the form eg prevailed, represented 
by -ea, -ey, -ay, -y ; the examples with -y are Wendy, and 
Coveny as a variant of Coveney. See Island in the New Eng. 
Dictionary. As the original sense of eg or ig was simply 
" watery," it came to mean any land wholly or to a great 
extent surrounded by water ; often, no doubt, a piece of land 
wholly or nearly surrounded by a river and smaller affluents; 
or any piece of somewhat isolated land lying close to a stream. 

In the map which accompanies the book named ' The 
Fenland, Past and Present,' by Miller and Skertchly, it will 
be seen that the following places are marked as situate on what 
were formerly distinct islands : — Manea, Stonea, Whittlesea, 
Coveney, Stuntney, Thorney, Barway (or Barraway), and the 
isle of Ely. And it may be noticed that Waterbeach is 
represented as being situate on the old shore of the Wash, 



§ 10. NAMES ENDING IN -EA, -AY, -EY, -Y. 51 

whilst Landbeach is further inland. Horningsea lay between 
the Wash and the Granta. Anglesea Abbey was close to the 
old shore of the Wash, to the N.E. of Stow-cum-Quy. 

Anglesea. A priory of Augustinian Canons was founded 
at Anglesea (or Anglesey) in the time of Henry I. Lit. " the 
isle of the Angle," with reference to an individual. This use 
is rare, as the word is almost invariably used in the plural. 
But the gen. plural is JEngla or Engla, and the " land of the 
Angles " is Engla-land or England. See Angle in the New 
English Dictionary. The A.S. nom. pi. is Engle, so that the 
addition of an ,9 never occurred in the plural at all. The early 
spelling Angleseye occurs in 1270 (Cat. Ancient Deeds); cf. 
Angleslieye in the Hundred Rolls, ii. 360. 

Barway. So in the Ordnance map (it is near Little 
Thetford); but Barraway in the Fenland map. The suffix 
simulates the word ivay, but the right division is Barw-ay or 
Barraw-ay. This is shewn both by the fact that it was once 
an island, and by the old spellings. We find Berewey in 1316 
(F.A.), but Bergheye in the time of Henry III (R.B.), and 
Bergeye in 1155 (R.B.); also the Latinised forms Bergeia, 
Berheia, Bercheia (Pipe Rolls). It is obviously derived from 
the O. Merc, berh, A.S. beorh, a hill, mound, and O. Merc, eg 
(A.S. ig), an island. If we spell it Barrow-ey, the etymology 
becomes clearer, as the A.S. beorh is now bar nun. See Barrow, 
a mound, in the New Eng. Dictionary. 

Coveney, Coveny. The Latinised form Coueneia occurs 
in a footnote at p. 270 of Kemble, Cod. Dipl. vol. iv. The 
Ramsey Chartulary has Coveneye or Coveneie. The prefix Couen 
represents the A.S. Gufan, gen. case of Cufa, a well-authenti- 
cated personal name. The suffix is 0. Merc, eg, A.S. ig. 

Ely. Spelt Elig in Kemble's edition of the Charters in 
many instances ; but Helig in a late paper copy of a charter of 
a.d. 057; see Birch, Cart. Saxon, iii. 196 — 7. There can be no 
doubt that the name has very long been understood, by a 
popular etymology, to mean "isle <A' eels," :i name which is 

4—2 



52 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

quite appropriate ; but this would require a usual spelling 
d'leg (cellg), a form which never occurs but once, as noted 
below. In fact the spelling in Beda, Hist. Eccl. iv. 19, is Elge ; 
see the ed. by Mayor and Lumby, p. 127, 1. 30, and p. 130, 
1. 20. The best MS. of the early A.S. translation has the 
spellings Elige and Elia lond\ see the ed. by T. Miller (E.E.T.S.), 
p. 318, 1. 10, and p. 320, 1. 5. We find, at p. 318— " in Jraem 
\eodlonde ]>e is geceged Elige," lit. in the tribe-land that is 
called Elige ; but this translates the Latin regione. It seems 
quite certain, in any case, that there was no allusion to " island " 
in the original name. The various readings are very remark- 
able ; for Elige, other readings are Lige and Hcelige, and one 
MS. (not older than the Conquest) has eel teg \wg = eg], i.e. 
'eel-island,' shewing that the popular interpretation had affected 
the English name at that date. 

If, however, we go back to Beda's spelling El-ge, we see 
that it represents the O. Northumbrian el-ge, i.e. " district of 
eels," where el is the later A.S. wl, " eel," and ge is the veiy rare 
early equivalent of the G. Gau (see Kluge, Etym. Diet,, s.v. 
Gem). This agrees sufficiently with Beda's explanation : — " Est 
autem ~EAge .. .regio .. .in similitudinem insulae uel paludibus, ut 
diximus, circumdata uel aquis, unde et a copia anguillarum 
quae in eisdem paludibus capiuntur nonien accepit." See 
H. M. Chadwick's Studies in Old English, § 5. 

I copy the following useful note from The Fenland, Past 
and Present, p. 63. 

The boundaries of the Isle of Ely are thus described in 
Sprott's Chronicle, published by Hearne 1 . "At Erhithbridge 
begins one entrance into the Island, which extends as far as 
Sotton Grove, and so at Mephale, and so at 'Wyeltombrigge, and 
so at Ely Dowihom 2 , and so at Littleport", and so at the Town 
of Ely, and so at Haveryngmere, and so at Stratham Lode, and 
so at Andlong 2 Wesche, on the south side of the island, and so 
at Alderhethbrigge, and so at Erhithbregge. These are the 
entrances into the island, one at Littleport' 1 , another at Ston- 

1 Th. Sprotti Chronica ; ed. T. Hearne, Oxon. 1719 ; p. 199. I correct a 
few spellings. 

2 Hearne prints Donnhom, Litteport, Andlong; Miller has Audlotiy. 



§ 10. NAMES ENDING IN -EA. 53 

teneyebrigge, the third at Aldcrhithebregge, the fourth at 
Erhithbregge." 

EASTREA, Estrea. Quite a different word from Eastry in 
Kent ; for which see the forms in Sweet, O.E. Texts, p. 611. It 
is probably the Estrey mentioned in a spurious charter in 
Birch, Cart. Sax. iii. 438, 1. 5. The prefix is A.S. eastra, lit. 
" more to the east" ; it is just due east of Whittles-ea, also once 
an island. There is also a W entry Farm, to the west of the 
road leading northwards from March. 

Horningsea. Spelt Horningesie in Domesday Book, and 
Horningeseie (Norman spelling) in I.C.C. and in Kemble, Cod. 
Dipl. iv. 245. For A.S. Horninges-eg, isle of Horning. Horning 
is a patronymic, and the name Horn is known ; indeed, there 
is a " Lay of King Horn " extant both in French and English. 

Manea. I find no old spelling; but the suffix means "isle," 
as in the other instances; for it was once a complete island. 
The prefix probably represents the A.S. Mannan, gen. case of 
Manna, a name which occurs in the A.S. Chronicle, under the 
date 921. Cf. A.S. manna, a man, a sb. of the weak declension, 
by- form of mann, a man, of which the gen. is mannes. Compare 
such place-names as Man-ley and Man-ton ; and note that 
Manning was a tribal name, as in Maiiningford, Manningham, 
and Manningtree. 

[I take this opportunity of making a note on the name 
Ramsey, as so many illustrations have been taken from the 
Ramsey Chartulary ; though it is just out of our county, in 
Hunts. We find, on excellent authority, that this name has 
lost an initial h. It is spelt Hrames-ege (dative) in iElfhelm's 
Will; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 300; Thorpe, Diplom. p. 598, 
1. 10. This shews that the prefix is not our modern E. ram, 
but the A.S. hrcem, variant of hroemn or hrafn, a raven, whence 
the mod. E. raven is derived. The sense is "Raven's isle"; 
but whether Raven was a bird's name or a man's, we cannot 
certainly say. The latter is more probable ; the former is 
possible. The same prefix occurs in Hremmesden, now Bums- 



54 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

dean, Hants., according to Kemble ; bnt I cannot find this 
Ramsdean in the map.] 

Stonea. Of this name I find no record ; but the prefix is 
obviously the A.S. stun, M.E. stoon, modern E. stone; with 
reference (I suppose) to the soil. 

Stuntney. Spelt Stuntenei in Domesday Book, Stunteneie 
in I. CO.; which affords the clue. Stunten represents the A.S. 
stwntan, gen. of stunta, weak form of stunt, foolish. Stunta 
means " a foolish person," evidently a nickname. In Matt. v. 
22, where the A.V. has " thou fool," the A.S. version has 
" Sd stunta." 

Swavesey. Spelt Huauiseye in 1266 (Pedes Finium); 
Siuavsey in 1316, Siuaveseye in 1346, and Swafsey in the same 
year (F.A. i. 152, 166 — 8); Svavesye in Domesday Book. The 
A.S. prefix is Swcefes, gen. of Swief; a personal name which 
occurs again in Swaffhani. As the di was originally long, it 
must have been shortened, as in Swaffhani, and afterwards 
again lengthened. Otherwise, the modern name would have 
been Swevesey. The process is not uncommon. The A.S. 
Swcbf is a most interesting word, as it originally meant one 
of the tribe called in Latin Sueui, mentioned both by Caesar 
and Tacitus. The A.S. tv answers to Ger. a, and to a primitive 
Germanic e, so that the vowel preserved in Latin is the original 
one. 

Thorney. Spelt Thorneia in 1169 (Pipe Rolls), Torneya 
in 1158, and Torny in Domesday Book. Cf. A.S. Bornlg; 
Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iii. 102. The spelling with T is, of course, 
Anglo-French, and due to the inability of many Normans to 
pronounce the E. th. The derivation is obvious ; from A.S. 
thorn, a thorn-bush. Another Thorney is celebrated as being 
the site of Westminster Abbey ; it is described in a spurious 
charter as being a "locus terribilis"; Birch. Cart. Sax. i. 339. 

Welney, Welny, near Wisbech. I find no old spelling ; 
but the derivation is obvious, viz. from wellan eg, or welkin Ig 



§10. NAMES ENDING IN* -EA, -EV. -V. 55 

" isle of the well," apparently because it stood beside a stream 
called the Wellan-ea, or " well-stream " (later spelling tvellen- 
he = ivelleu-ee, in the Ramsey Chartulary) and afterwards 
Well Creek; sue The Fenland, pp. 7, 189, 209. Here wellan 
is the gen. of A.S. wylle or welle; see wille in the A.S. Dictionary. 
The dat. wellan occurs in Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iii. 206; and the 
dat. and gen. eases of weak substantives are identical in form. 

WENDY. Formerly Wendye (1316), Weudeye (1346), in 
F.A. i. 157, 172; Wandei and Wandrie in Domesday Book. 
The form Wandrie is remarkable; but is shown to be corrupt 
by comparison with I.C.C., which has the correct form Wendeie. 
The variation of the vowel in Wendeie, Wandei, points to the 
A.S. te. Hence we can hardly be wrong in identifying the 
prefix with the A.S. Wamdan, occurring in the place-name 
Wwndan- uteres, which actually appears as Wendait in Wendan- 
beorges in the very next line of the same genuine and early 
charter (a.d. 950). See Birch, Cart. Saxon, iii. 106, 11. 1 and 2. 
Wendait is the gen. case of Wenda, a known personal name. 
The sense is "Wenda's island." 

WHITTLESEA. Spelt Witleseye in 1389 (Conybeare's Cambs., 
p. 147); Witleseye in 1394 (Ely Registers); Witesie (which is 
corrupt) in Domesday Book ; for Anglo-French, like modern 
French, dislikes the combination tl. However, the same authority 
has also the correct form Witeles-ford; and I.C.C. has Witleseie. 
In the late copy of the A.S. Chronicle we find Witles-mere 
under the year 656, in a late and spurious charter ; but the 
spelling is Norman. In the Charters, we find an allusion to 
"insulam quae Witlesig nuncupatur"; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iii. 
101, and Witlesmere occurs on the same page. This at any 
rate proves that Whittlesea was then considered to be an 
island. Again, we find "stagni quod dicitur Witlesntere"; Cod. 
Dipl. iii. 93, 101 ; and the forms Witleseye, Witlesmere, in the 
Ramsey Chartulary. But all these exhibit Norman spellings, 
and furnish no clear proof that the word originally began with 
W rather than Hw. On the other hand, the Wh- is generally 
correctly used in local names ; and if so, we may derive the 



56 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

prefix from an A.S. form *Hwitel, diminutive of a name com- 
mencing with Hiult, lit. ' white.' If the initial had been 
originally W, we might take witles to be the genitive of A.S. 
witol, an adjective with the sense of " wise," derived from witan, 
to know, and employed as a nickname or epithet ; compare 
Stuntney above. 

It is further evident, that the modern name Whittlesea- 
mere is unoriginal. The true name is simply Whittles- mere. 
And of course the drainage of the fens has left but little trace 
of it. Moreover, it was not situate within our county, but 
near Yaxley in Huntingdonshire. See The Fenland, by Miller 
and Skertchley, p. 1G2, for a map of it as it existed in 1824. 

GAMLlNGAY. It is hardly possible to discuss this name 
without raising the question as to how it is to be divided ; 
i.e. whether the suffix is -gay or -ay, 

After some consideration of the question, I think it must 
be taken along with other difficult place-names of a like 
character ; and we have first of all to enquire, whether such a 
suffix as -gay is possible in Old English. My belief is that it 
is not ; for no such word is to be found either in English or in 
Norse, nor yet in Norman. I am aware that it has been pro- 
posed to derive the suffix -gay from the German gait; but it is 
now well ascertained that we did not borrow words from Old 
High German, still less from the German of the present day ; 
nor has any attempt been made to shew why, how, or when, 
such a sound as au turned into the modern English ay. The 
proposal is, of course, preposterous. Neither did we borrow it 
from Norse, because, although the change of an to ey, by means 
of mutation, is regular in Norse, it so happens that the equiva- 
lent of the German gau was never at any time in use in any 
Scandinavian language. And not even Norse can lend a word 
which it does not possess. 

Another bad guess has been made as to the name Bungay, 
which we are gravely told is from the French bon gue, " a good 
ford." But surely gue is mere modern French ; the Norman 
form was wet or guet, and even in the form guet the gu was 
pronounced as gw (according to Gaston Paris). It is a desperate 



.§10. NAMES ENDING IN -AY. o7 

guess to resort to mispronouncing Norman for the purpose of 
forcing an etymology which is so much more likely to have 
been of English or Norse origin ; neither is it necessary. The 
origin of Bungay presents no difficulty if we divide it rightly 
and consider its geographical position. It is best explained by 
considering the parallel case of Durham. Durham is, as is well 
known, a Norman travesty of the Old English name Dun-holm, 
i.e. hill-island, or rather, hill-peninsula, which describes it 
exactly. It is situate on a horse-shoe bend of the river Wear, 
and rises high above the water in a rounded knoll. The 
situation of Bungay is precisely similar, and it can be explained 
from the Icel. bung-a, a round elevation, and ey, an island. The 
same word buncja, a round hill, is preserved in modern Norwe- 
gian, according to Ross. 

It might be supposed that the suffix -<jaij is obvious in such 
cases as Hilgay and Wormegay; but the moment that we come 
to examine their history, we find that the modern forms are 
contracted. The old spelling of the former is Helingeye in the 
Chronicle of Ramsey Abbey, and Helingeheie in I.C.C.; and we 
see in the prefix a tribal name in -ing (probably the tribe of 
the Hellings, represented by Hellingley in Sussex), so that the 
true suffix is -eye, an island, as in so many other cases. So 
also Wormegay was formerly Wirmingai (Red Book, index); 
i.e. Wyrminga eg, or " isle of the Wyrmings." When we thus 
see that such names as Bungay and Hilgay and Wormegay 1 , 
when fairly considered, are found to exhibit the suffix -ay (or 
-ey), an island, we may suspect that Gamlingay presents no 
exception to the general rule. The old spellings are Gameling- 
eye in 1211, and Gamelingehey in 1210 (R.B.). Hence the 
name can be explained at once, from a tribal name Gamelingas ; 
and such is Kemble's explanation. He compares it with a 
Gembling in Yorkshire, which, however, I have not found. The 
Gamelings were the sons of Gamel, which is a well-authenti- 
cated name. The adjective gemot, meaning "old," occurs m 
Old English poetry, but is rather scarce, except in the earliest 
poems; most of the examples of it occur in Beowulf. In 
■ With the same prefix as in Worming-ford, Wonning-hall, and Worming- 



Ion. 



58 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

Scandinavian, on the other hand, it has always been one of the 
commonest of words, where it has almost displaced the word 
" old " altogether. In Danish, for example, " an old horse " is 
en ganimel Heat, and can be expressed in no other way. The 
singular Gameling was used as the name of an individual, but, 
as the Normans were unable to pronounce the final ng except 
by an effort, the name appears at a later date in the form 
Gamelin (as spelt in the Chronicle of Ramsey Abbey and in 
the celebrated Tale of Gamelyn), and still exists as Gamlin or 
Gamlen. 

The matter becomes easier to understand if we bear in 
mind that the final ng in A.S. (as in Old High German) was 
sounded like the ng in finger, not like the ng in singer. If we 
denote this sound by ngg, we see that the name was once 
sounded as Gamelingga-ey, shortened to Gamelingg-ag, and this 
at once explains the distinctness of the #-sound in the modern 
word, and the tendency to throw it over, as it were, into the 
final syllable. See Sweet's History of English Sounds, § 550'. 
It is perhaps not quite easy, in this case, as it is in others, to 
see the applicability of the name. But there is a small stream 
to the south-east of the village, beyond which the ground rises 
for about forty feet in the course of half a mile ; whilst to the 
west side the ground again declines towards the Ouse, which in 
the old days before the fens were drained must often have over- 
flowed a considerable expanse of land. On this point, we have 
the express evidence of Prof. Babington, who tells us that in 
the neighbourhood of Gamlingay there were "extensive quaking 
bogs," in which certain fen-plants grew which can no longer be 
found there ; and he supplies a list of them ; see his Flora 
Cantabrigiensis, p. xix. If, as seems likely, it was thus some- 
what isolated, which is all that is meant by the suffix -ay, it is 
not altogether the most southern example of places of this 
character ; for I suppose that both Shingay and Wendy fall 
under the same category. Both of them lie between the 
Granta (or Cam) and small affluent streams. The sense of 
Gamelingay is, accordingly, " the isle of the sons of Gamel." 

1 This is why we actually hud Gamilenkeia in the time of Henry II. ; see 
Index to Charters and Rolls, Vol. i. Cf. Hominygeseye (Hund. Rolls, ii.). 



§10; NAMES ENDING IN -AY. .5!) 

SHENGAY, or SHINGAY. Tlic change from en to in is 
common in English, so that we at once know Shengay to be 
the older name. The spelling is Shengey in L316(F.A.); the 
suffix being probably ey, an island or peninsula. The mere 
fact that the name begins with Sh proves that it is English, 
and not Scandinavian or Norman. The above form is not old 
enough to explain its origin, but comparison with the name of 
Shenington in Oxfordshire at once suggests that it is a contrac- 
tion of Shenvngey, from a tribal name represented by the 
modern prefix Shening-] and this supposition is fully proved 
by the fortunate occurrence of the full form Sceningei (also 
Scenegeia) in I.C.C. The trisyllabic form Schenegeye occurs in 
127b', in the Hundred Rolls, i. 50; and Schenynghey in 1277 
(Pedes Finium). Cf. Shenyng/eld (Berks.) in Abbrev. Rot. 
p. 2o(i. Shening is from a name represented by the Shen- of 
Shenton, in Leicestershire, and perhaps by Sheen. The A.S. 
prefix Seen- occurs in the compound name Scen-wulf, which is 
preserved in the Liber Vita3 of Durham ; see Sweet, Oldest 
Eng. Texts, p. 008, col. 1. 

I may add that there is a Shenley in Herts, and a Shenfield 
in Essex. The latter corresponds to the A.S. scen-feld, the 
fair or beautiful field, for which see the A.S. Dictionary. This 
scene is cognate with the familiar U. schon, beautiful ; and I 
know of no reason why the seen- in scen-feld may not be the 
same as the Seen- in Scen-wulf and in Scen-ing ; for although 
scene, ' beautiful,' is the usual poetical attribute of a woman, or 
of an angel, it might have been applied to a man, if not as a 
compliment, at any rate in irony. 

As to the meaning of LiNGAY, I am not at all certain. The 
syllable ling may have meant " heath " ; for ling seems to be 
East Anglian, as it occurs in the Promptorium Parvulorum and 
in Moor's Suffolk Words. Or, possibly, an older form may have 
been Lengay, and perhaps this might be allied to A.S. lang, 
long. I only suggest that the suffix was rather -ay than -gay ; 
for the prefix Lin- has no sense but "flax"; and it can hardly 
have been a suitable place for the growth of that plant. 

[The name Spinney does not belong here; see p. 72.] 



b'O THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 



Fen. 

The word fen, A.S. fenn, needs no illustration. It is not 
found here in compounds, but only in such cases as Fen Ditton, 
Fen Drayton, Fen Stanton (Hunts.), where it is adjectival ; or 
after place-names, as Burwell Fen, Chippenham Fen, Dernford 
Feu, Soham Fen, Wicken Fen. We also have Burnt Fen, Coe 
Fen, Grunty (?Granta) Fen, Great and Little North Fen, and 
the like. I do not undertake to explain such names as Coe 
Fen, of which we have no history, nor any assurance that they 
are old. Coe, for example, is common as a surname, and the 
name may be modern, as is the case with many names found in 
the map, such as Grange Farm, Barker's Farm, Dotterel Hall, 
and others. 



Field. 

The suffix field (A.S. field) occurs in Haslingtield, Noster- 
held, and in the name of a hundred called Radfield. 

Haslingfield. Spelt Haaelingfeld in 1284 (F.A.); and 
Haslingefeld in Domesday Book. According to Kemble, the 
sense is the " field of the Hseslings " ; so that Huslinge- in 
Domesday Book would represent A.S. Hwslinga, gen. plural. 

Other examples of this name occur in Haslingden, Lanes. ; 
Haslington, Chesh. ; and Heslington, Yks. The name Hcesel 
or Hcesl, of which Hcesl-ing is the patronymic, is only known 
as the name of a tree, viz. the " hasel"; but it is paralleled by 
JZsc, which is a well-known personal name, though the literal 
sense is "ash-tree"; and there is an Ashing-ton in Sussex. 

NoSTERFiELD. Nosterfield End is near Shudy Camps. 
The name is found as early as 1284 (Feudal Aids, i. 140). I 
suppose it to be short for Paternoster field. See the account 
(in Blount's Tenures) of Alice Paternoster, who held lands at 
Pusey, in Berkshire, by the service of saying five paternosters 
a day for the souls of the king's ancestors. We find the name 
JNormannus de Nostresfelda in I.C.C., p. 28. 



§ 10. NAMES ENDING IN FEN, -FIELD, -FORD. 61 

Radfield. Spelt Radfelde in 1302, Radefeld in 1284 
(F.A.) ; Radefelle (for Radefelde) in Domesday Book ; and 
Radefelde, Radesfeld in I.C.C. Apparently for A.S. Rcedan 
feld, or ' field of Rieda ' ; Rcrda being a pet-name from names 
beginning with Rsed-. Compare Radbourne, Radcliffe, Radford, 
Radley, Radstock, Radstone, Radway. But in some at least of 
these examples rad- represents the A.S. readan, dat. of read, 
red. Similarly Radfield might mean " red field." I leave this 
in uncertainty. 



Ford. 

The sense of ford, A.S. ford, is well known. It occurs in 
Armingford and Chilford, which are the names of two of the 
hundreds ; also in Dernford, Shelford, Stapleford, Thetford, 
Whittlesford, and Witchford. It has already been explained 
that Duxford and Pampisford are modern substitutions for 
Duxworth and Pampisvvorth ; see pp. 25, 26. 

Armingford. The m usually appears as n in early docu- 
ments. We find Armyngeforth in 1428 (F.A. i. 189); but 
Arnyngforde in 1302 and 1316 (F.A. i. 149, 156). Still 
earlier, the A appears as E\ as in Emingeford (1159, 1165, 
1170, 1173) in the Pipe Rolls; and Domesday Book has 
Erningford. The change from er to or is common ; so that 
Emingeford would seem to be the right Norman spelling ; 
which is also to be found in Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 245. An 
A.S. spelling is ASrningaford ; Birch, Cart. Sax. iii. 556; where 
(em is a Mercian form of earn, an eagle. The corresponding 
Wessex form is Earninga, as in Eaminga-den, in Kemble's 
Index. Earninga is the gen. pi. of Earning, a patronymic 
formed from the personal name Earn, coinciding with A.S. 
earn, an eagle. Hence the sense is "ford of the sons of Earn." 
Note that the spellings Emincpaford ', JErningeford occur in 
I.C.C. 

Chilford. Spelt ChiJdeford in 1168 (Pipe Roll), ami 
Oildeford (= Childeford) in Domesday Book. Also Ghildeforda 



62 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

in I.C.C. Here Childe represents the A.S. Cilda,a,s in Cildatun 
(Chilton, Berks.); and cilda is the gen. plural of A.S. did, a 
child. The sense is " children's ford " ; with a probable allusion 
to its shallowness. Compare Ox-ford, Svrin-ford, &c. 

Dernford. There is still a Dernford Farm, near Staple- 
ford. Dernford is mentioned, according to the Index to the 
Charters, in 1372; and Derneford, co. Hunts., according to the 
same, in 1164. The M.E. dem means "secret, private, known 
but to few," as is shewn in the N.E.D., s.v. Dem. From the 
A.S. derne, secret. The E. verb to darn is from the same 
source ; see my Notes on Etymology, p. 56. 

Shelford. Spelt Selford (A.F. form of Shelford) in 1210 
(R.B.); Domesday Book has Escelforde, with prefixed euphonic 
E; I.C.C. has both Esceldford and Sceldford. The A.F. 
Scelford occurs in Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 245 ; and Seldford in 
1228 (Pedes Finium). It is clearly the same name as that 
spelt Sceldeford ; Hugonis Candidi Ccenobii Burgensis Historia, 
p. 39. The d is lost between I and /, precisely as in Chilford 
(above). This is a correct and intelligible form. Halliwell 
gives the M.E. scheld, shallow, as applied to water, with a good 
example ; and adds that it is still in use. It is a mutated 
variant (with e for a) of M.E. schald, shallow ; see Barbour's 
Bruce, ix. 354, and the footnote, and schald in Jamieson. This 
form is not recorded in the Dictionaries, but certainly existed, 
as it is preserved in the place-name Shalford, in Essex and 
Surrey, as shewn by Mr Stevenson (Phil. Soc. Trans., 1895-8, 
p. 532). Cf. Shalbourn (shallow bourn), Berkshire ; Shalfleet 
(shallow stream) in the Isle of Wight. There is also a Shelford 
in Notts., beside Stoke Ferry on the river Trent. And the 
following extract from Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 157, gives the 
forms Scealdeford and Sceldeford as convertible : — " of Staun- 
dune to Scealdeforda, and of Sceldeforda to coleboge welle." 
But this is in quite a late MS. 

Stapleford. Spelt Stapelforde in 1302 (F.A. i. 147); 
Stapleford in Domesday Book ; Staplesford (with error of sf for 
ft) in Kemble, C<>d. Dipl. iv. 245, in an Anglo-French copy; 



§ 10. NAMES ENDING IN -FORD, -HEATH, -LEV. 63 

but Stapelford in Birch, Cart. Saxon, iii. 687. Stapleford (Herts.) 
appears as Stapulford (Kemble's Index). The prefix is A.S. 
stapul, stapol, an upright post ; by which, presumably, the ford 
was originally marked. Compare Staplow; p. 72. 

Thetford. Spelt Tedford in Domesday Book, with T for 
Th ; owing to the difficulty of sounding the English th. The 
Liber de Hyda (p. 10) has the correct M.E. form, viz. Theedford. 
The A.S. form is ^eodford ; A.S. Chron., ed. Plummer, ii. 446 ; 
and peod-, in composition means "great," the literal sense of 
the sb. }Jeod being " people." The literal sense is " people- 
ford," hence " large or wide ford." Why Isaac Taylor calls this 
obvious solution "improbable," it would be difficult to say. 
Perhaps Toller's explanation of ]>eod- in composition was then 
unpublished. 

Whittlesford. For the explanation, see WHITTLESEA. 
Lit. " ford of Hwltel." 

Witchford. Domesday Book has Wiceford, with ce = che. 
The Ramsey Chartulary has Wicheford ; and the forms 
Wichforda, Wicheforda occur in I.C.C. For the explanation, 
see WlTCHAM. Or it may mean "ford near the witch-elm": 
from A.S. wice ; cf. Ash ford, Oak ford, Thorn ford. 



Heath. 

Perhaps the sole example of this suffix is seen in Horse- 
HEATH ; the derivation of which is obvious. It appears as 
Horseketh in 1339, in the Ely Registers, but Horseth (with loss 
of h) in 1276, Hund. Rolls, p. 52. 



Ley. 

Examples of -ley occur in Ashley, Brinkley, Cheveley, 
Childerley, Eltisley, Graveley, East Hatley and Hatley St 
George, Madingley, Silverley, Westley, and Wetherley. The 
suffix -ley represents the A.S. leah, a lea or field, or in some 



G4 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

cases at least, the dat. case leage of the same substantive. As 
the g in leage was sounded like y, the Mid. Eng. form is 
usually leye in the dative, and ley in the nominative ; see lei in 
St rat maun. 

Ashley. In Domesday Book spelt Esselie, with ss for s/* 
(as often), and E for A.S. ^. The prefix is the A.S. msc, 
modern E. ash. See Silverley at p. 66. There are four 
other Ashleys in England. 

Brinkley. Spelt Brynkeleye in the Ely Registers in 
1339; and, as late as in Fuller, Brinkelee. The Norman 
spelling Brinkewrfta (for Brinketveor'S) occurs in a charter 
dated 1065, Kemble, Cod. Dipl. iv. 167, 1. 1 ; with reference to 
Brinkworth in Wilts. There are also such names as Brink- 
burn, Brinkhill, and Brinklow. In all these cases we see the 
modern E. brink, a word of Scandinavian origin ; from Dan. 
brink, verge, Swed. brink, the descent or slope of a hill. 
According to the map, the road from Six Mile Bottom to 
Brinkley rises nearly 250 feet. 

Cheveley. The spellings somewhat vary ; we find Chevelee 
or Chevele in 1383, 1394, and 1401 (Cat. Anc. Deeds, and F.A. 
i. 175); Cheveley (as now) in 1428 (F.A.). Also Chavele in 
1302 to 1346 (F.A.); Chauelai in 1160 (Pipe Roll); Chavelai 
in Domesday Book ; and Chauelei, Cauelei, Cheueleie in I.C.C. 
The spellings Calvelega and Chalvelega in R.B., in 1171 and 
1167, introduce an unoriginal I. It is spelt Cceafle (in the dat. 
case) in a twelfth century copy of a charter dated about 990 ; 
see Earle, Land Charters, p. 368, 1. 10. Also Cheaflea in a 
copy of a charter of King Cnut; Cod. Dipl. iv. 13. All the 
earlier spellings are consistent with a derivation from the A.S. 
ceaf, mod. E. chaff. See Chaff in the New Eng. Dictionary. 

It would appear that the final / took the sound of v, thus 
obscuring the meaning of the word ; after which Chave- became 
Cheve. The Eng. Dial. Dictionary has chave as a verb, meaning 
to separate chaff from grain ; also chavins or cheevings, bits of 
broken straw ; chavin-riddle or cheevy -riddle, a coarse sieve 
used in chaving ; chave-hole, a recess for chaff. Hence the 



§ 10. NAMES ENDING IN -LEY. 65 

form Cheve- is not without support. There is a Chieveley in 
Berks., but it is of different origin ; see Glfan-lea in Kemble's 
Index. 

Childerley. Spelt Ghylderle in 1302 (F.A. i. 148) ; and 
Cildrelai (with Ci for Chi) in Domesday Book. Here Ghilder- 
or Ghildre- represents the A.S. cildra, gen. pi. of did, a child. 
The sense is " children's lea." As the A.S. cild has a double 
form of the gen. pi., viz. dlda and cildra, there is no difficulty 
in assigning to Childer- the same sense as to the Chil- (for 
dlda) in Chilford (pp. 61, 62). 

Eltisley. Spelt Eltislee in Fuller's Worthies ; Elteslee in 
1302 (F.A. i. 149); Eltesle in 1251 (In. p. m., p. 8). The 
prefix seems to involve the same personal name as that which 
appears in Eltham, Kent. But I can find no further authority 
for it. It may, however, be connected with the prov. E. elt, to 
knead dough, to toil in wet ground ; see N.E.D. and E.D.D. 

Graveley. Spelt Gravele in 1284 (F.A. i. 138); Gravelei 
in Domesday Book. The A.S. spelling is Grceflea; Thorpe, 
Diplom. p. 382, note 16 ; compare Greflea, Grceflea, in the 
Ramsey Chartulary. It is compounded of A.S. grcef, a trench, 
mod. E. grave, and leak, a lea or field. The sense is " field with 
a trench." Cf. the Crawford Charters, pp. 61, 62. 

Hatley. Spelt Hattele in 1284 (F.A. i. 136); Hattelega 
(Latin) in 1210 (R.B.) ; Hatelai, Atelai in Domesday Book. 
The A.S. form is Hcettanlea, in jElf helm's Will ; Kemble, Cod. 
Dipl. iv. 300, 1. 13. Hcettan is the gen. case of a personal name 
Hcetta, of which Hetta (noted by Mr Searle) is apparently an 
alteration. 

Madingley. Spelt Maddynglee in 1302, Maddingle in 
1284 (F.A. i. 138, 148), Madinglega (Latin), in 1210 (R.B.); 
Madingelee in 1199 (Pedes Finium); Madmgelei in Domesday 
Book. The A.S. form would be Madinga-leah, or " lea of the 
Bladings." Mading is a tribal name ; cf. Mada as a personal 
name, whence the dat. Madan-leage, i.e. Madeley ; Kemble, 
C.A.S. Octavo Series. No. XXXVI. 5 



66 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

Cod. Dipl. iii. 123, 1. 3. There is a Maddington in Wilts.; 
whilst from the name Mada we have Madeley in Shropshire 
(as above), and Madehurst in Sussex. 

SlLVERLEY. There is a parish named Ashley-cum-Silverley. 
The spelling Silverle occurs in 1284, 1302, 1346, and 1428 
(F.A. i. 139, 142, 158, 177); Domesday Book has Severlai, 
which stands for Selverlai, as selver is not an uncommon 
spelling in Middle English for " silver," and the A.S. form is 
seolfor. This is verified by the epithet de Seuerlaio in I.C.C., 
p. 98, for which another MS. has de Seiluerleia. The epithet 
seems a strange one, but we have similar instances ; compare 
Silverdale, Lanes., Silverstone, Northampt., Silverton, Devon. 

Westley. Spelt Weslai in Domesday Book, with s for st ; 
but Westlai in Cod. Dipl. iv. 245. The prefix is the E. west. 
This village is often called Westley Waterless, so that it was 
once badly off for wells. Mr Foster finds that it had the 
epithet waterlees as far back as 1339, as recorded in the Ely 
Registers ; and I have since found Westle waterles in 1308 
(Pedes Finium). Perhaps it is necessary to say that the 
former spelling, with final -lees, is the usual Mid. English 
spelling ; and it is interesting to notice that the word occurs in 
Chaucer's Prologue, 1. 180 : — " Is likned til a fish that is water- 
lees" The A.S. form of this suffix is -leas. 

Wetherley. This is the name of a hundred. The spelling 
Wetherle occurs in 1284 and 1302 (F.A. 137, 146); but another 
spelling is Wederle in 1168, or better Wederleah, as in 1166 
(Pipe Rolls); Domesday Book has Wederlai ; but l.C.C. has 
both Wederlai and Wederlai. This suggests that the prefix is 
wether, a sheep, A.S. wefter, for which the A.F. form was weder, 
owing to the difficulty of sounding the th. Cf. Wethersfield in 
Essex. 

Mere. The A.S. mere means "lake," in which sense it is 
familiar to all who know the English lakes. I know of no 
example in Cambs. except Fowlmere or Foulmire. The name 
Foulmire is comparatively modern (later than 1500), but is not 



§ 10. NAMES ENDING IN -LEY, -MERE, -POLE. 67 

difficult to account for. It is well-known how the letter r has 
a tendency to preserve a preceding long vowel ; thus the word 
more is still pronounced with the open o, whereas the o in stone 
is close ; and the word shire is still locally called sheer, though 
usually it rhymes to fire, and this ee preserves the A.S. pronun- 
ciation of the i in sclr. It is not surprising that some people 
should once have confused the word mere, a lake, with the old 
sound of mire, and so have altered the word to suit a popular 
etymology, suggested by the fancy that fowl meant ' dirty,' 
instead of referring to birds. However, there is no doubt as to 
the sense, though the mere has now been drained away. The 
spelling Foulmere occurs in 1401, and Fulmere in 1302 (F.A. 
i. 147, 175); the Pipe Rolls have Fugelmara, where Fugel is at 
any rate explicit. Even in Domesday Book Ave find the spell- 
ings Fuglemcere and Fugelesmara, where once more the former 
part of the word is correct, but the latter part is a little altered, 
by the substitution of the Latinised form mara (A.F. mare, 
from O. Norse mar?') for A.S. mere; see Mara in Ducange. 
Fortunately, the original A.S. compound is not difficult to find ; 
there were several "fowl-meres "in different parts of England, 
and they must have been extremely useful when hawking was 
common. The A.S. fugel-mere (fowl-mere) occurs in a charter 
dated 931, Earle, Land Charters, p. 166, last line but one; and 
again in a charter dated 972 (which Prof. Earle thinks to be 
genuine) ; p. 449, 1. 6 from the bottom. I even find the late 
spelling fugel-mcere in Birch, Cart. Saxon, iii. 529, 1. 4 from 
bottom ; and the true form fugel-mere in the very next line. 
It is a pity that the A.S. dictionaries omit the word, though 
they give several compounds with fagel ; but it is duly noted 
in Earle's Glossarial Index, p. 490. 

Pool. From A.S. pol, a pool ; now ascertained to be a 
Germanic word, not Celtic. It occurs in Wimpole. 

Wimpole. The m in Wimpole is due to the succeeding p. 
The spelling Wympole occurs in 1346, but may be due to a 
mistake, as Wynipole also appears at the same date (F.A. i. 
164, 169). Earlier, we find Wgnepul in 1302 (F.A. i. 146), and 

5—2 



68 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 



Winepole in 1210 (R.B.) and in Domesday Book. The prefix 
represents Winan, gen. of Wina, a known name. The pool in 
Wimpole Park is still large enough to be marked in maps. 

Wade. This suffix occurs in Land-wade, where the prefix 
is the common word land. The old spellings are Landwade 
(1284, 1316, 1346) in F.A. i. 136, 156, 159, and Landwath 
(1210) in R.B. The variation of spelling shews that it repre- 
sents the A.S. weed, a ford, which occurs in some dialects as 
wath (Icel. wx<5), as noted by Jamieson, Ray, and in the Catho- 
licon Anglicum. We have the same suffix in Biggles-wade. 
The cognate Lat. form is uadum, a ford. Allied to E. wade, 
verb, and to Lat. uadere, to go. 



§ 11. Some other Names. 

In the following names, we have mostly to deal with simple 
words rather than compounds. 

Borough Green. Named from Borough, which is the 
older name ; spelt Burg in the time of Henry III. and Burch 
in Domesday Book. From A.S. burh, a fort, a borough. It is 
also spelt Burrough Green ; and it lies to the N.E. of Brinkley. 

Bourn. So named from the brook, now called Bourn 
Brook. Formerly Burne in 1210, but the earlier spelling is 
Brunne, in 1171, 1190, 1194 (R.B.); and Brune in Domesday 
Book. Thus its first name was Scandinavian, from Icel. brunnr, 
a spring, well, or fountain ; which was afterwards exchanged 
for the corresponding English name, from A.S. burne, burna, a 
small stream. 

Burnt Fen. This part of the fen-land, to the east of Ely, 
doubtless obtained its name from the famous story of the 
burning of the fen there by Hereward and his men. See 
ch. 25 of the Gests of Hereward, appended to Gaimar's 
Chronicle, ed. Wright (Caxton Society), p. 94. 



. 



§11. SOME OTHER NAMES. G9 

Chatteris. A common old spelling is Chateriz, as in 1326 
(In. p. m., p. 237) and in late copies of charters ; see Cod. Dipl. 
iii. 107 ; also Chaterih in the same, iv. 145. I.C.C. has Catriz, 
Cateriz, CetHz, Chetriz; Domesday Book has Cetriz, Cietriz; 
all Norman spellings. English spellings are supplied by the 
Ramsey Chartulary, which has Ceatrice, Caiateric, Choleric, 
Chaterik ; and we find Ceateric in Thorpe, Diplom., p. 382. 
The final -z in the Norman spelling was sounded as ts, and it 
seems to have been used as a substitute for the Latin suffix 
-cus, in the case of names which were Latinised by adding -us 
to an A.S. name in -c. Thus, in I.C.C, we find an A.S. form 
jEdvic (for Eadric), whence Lat. JEdricus, and A.F. jEdriz; 
A.S. Aluric (for iElfiic), Lat. Aluricus, A.F. Alriz; A.S. Godrlc, 
Lat. Godricus, A.F. Godriz; A.S. Leofric, Lat. Leofricus, A.F. 
Leofriz. Hence the Norman forms quoted above represent 
such forms as Catric, Coterie, Cetric, Chetric ; and all the forms 
quoted may be deduced from an A.S. form Ceatric or Ccetric. 
But as this form has no suffix significant of position, it cannot 
represent a personal name. Mr Stevenson kindly suggests that 
it may have been a river-name. Cf. Wenrlc, Wenrisc, the 
river Windrush ; in Kemble's Index. And perhaps cf. Chat- 
burn, Lanes. 

Elm. Spelt Elm in 1346 (F.A. i. 141), and in a late copy 
of a charter ; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. v. 4, 1. 3 from bottom. The 
editor of the Ramsey Chartulary notes a mention of it in 
1321 ; see iii. 122, note 12. From A.S. elm, an elm-tree. 
There is nothing very remarkable in so childish a name ; 
compare Ash, Hazel Grove, Hazelwood, Maplestead, Poplar, and 
the like, in various counties. And observe the name Prick- 
willow, noted at p. 71. There is an Elmham in Norfolk. 

Kennet. Kennet is near a river of the same name. Spelt 
Kenet in 1346 (F.A.), Chenet (for Kenet) in Domesday Book ; 
Kenet in I.C.C. The question as to whether the name belonged 
originally to the town or to the river seems to be settled by 
the fact that there is another river Kennet which joins the 
Thames at Reading ; and the village of East Kennet in 



70 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

Wiltshire is situated upon it. Perhaps the river-name Kent 
is related to it ; at any rate, Kentford in Suffolk is short for 
Kennetford, as it is spelt Chenetheford in the Chronicle of 
Ramsey Abbey. Mr Stevenson says that the Berkshire Kennet 
is from an older *Cunetio, from which the regular descendant 
would be Gynwydd, which exists as a Welsh river-name. 

Kirtling. Spelt Kertelenge in Fuller's Worthies ; Cherte- 
linge (for Kertelinge) in Domesday Book ; and Curtelinge in 
I.C.C. As the vowel e or i would have palatalised the A.S. 
initial G, it is certain that the A.S. form began with Cy. This 
is pointed out by Kemble in his Saxons in England, i. 460, 
who infers that this was a settlement of the tribe of Cyrtlingas 
or sons of Cyrtla ; a result which is confirmed by the existence 
of a Kirtlington in Oxfordshire. The name Cyrtla occurs in 
the Crawford Charters, p. 52. It may have been given to a 
man from his dress ; cf. A.S. cyrtel, a kirtle, a kind of garment. 
Egilsson points out that the Icel. geita-kyrtla, lit. ' clad in a 
goat-skin kirtle,' was an epithet applied to a country lass. 

March. Spelt Merch in 1169, in the Pipe Roll; Merc in 
I.C.C. From A.S. mearce, inflected form of mearc, fern., a 
mark, boundary or limit. For the sense of the term see 
Kemble, Saxons in England, vol. i. c. 2, entitled " The Mark." 

Newmarket. Spelt Newemarket in 1383 (Cat. Anc. 
Deeds, ii.), and referred to as Novus Mercatus in 1276 (Hund. 
Rolls), and in 1219 (Pedes Finium). From new and market^ 
The earliest known use of the word market is in the Laud MS. 
of the A.S. Chronicle (an. 963), written not earlier than 1120. 
The town cannot be of earlier date than the 12th century, and 
is probably no earlier than the 13th. 

Over. Spelt Overe in 1210 (R.B.); Ovre and Oure in 
Domesday Book ; Otter in a late copy of a charter ; Cod. Dipl. 
iv. 145. The A.S. form is ofre, dat. of ofer, a shore of the sea, 
or bank of a river ; cognate with G. Ufer. Over is situate on 
what was once a bank or shore, overlooking the waters of the 
fen land. 



§11. SOME OTHER NAMES. 71 

Prickwillow. A village beyond Ely, near the railway. 
Named from a tree, probably the Salix viminalis, sometimes 
called the twig-withy or osier-withy. So called because used for 
making pricks or skewers. Similarly the Euonymus europams 
was called the prickwood, pricktimber, or spindle-tree. Compare 
Elm, as noted at p. 69. 

Quy. The name somewhat varied at different dates. The 
spelling with qu is found after 1250. Tims we find Queye in 
1261 (Pedes Finium), 1290 (In. p. m.), 1302 (F.A.), and Qweye 
in 1291 (Taxatio Ecclesiastica) ; with the variant Coye in 1276 
(Hundred Rolls) and 1284 (F.A.). This shews that the word 
was identified with the A.F. queye, queie, O.F. coye, the feminine 
of the A.F. adj. quey, O.F. coy, from Lat. quietus, quiet; as if 
Queye meant the quiet (or secluded) house or village. But 
earlier spellings shew that this was a Norman popular ety- 
mology. The name was probably A.S., as the place is men- 
tioned both in I.C.C. and D.B. The forms in I.C.C. are Goeie, 
Choeie, Latinised as Goeia in D.B. ; whilst the Inquisitio 
Eliensis has Cuege. In 1210 we find Cueye (KB.); and in 
1272 Goweye, Cowye (Pedes Finium). If we may trust to the 
form Gu-ege, the sense is " cow-island," as is still more clearly 
shewn by the later forms Gu-eye, Cow-eye, Goiv-ye. The -eie 
in I.C.C, Latinised as -eia, also points clearly to the suffix 
meaning "island"; compare the numerous examples already 
given, pp. 51—59. The only difficulty is to explain the A.F. 
prefix Go-, of which Gho- (with Gh for K) is the equivalent. 
We may fairly suppose that this early o really meant the 
A.S.U, because the Norman of the 11th century did not possess 
the sound u at all, and o was the nearest equivalent; see the 
preface by G. Paris to his Extraits de la Chanson de Roland, 
§ 25. Thus this Chanson has por, where Philip de Thaun 
has pur, and later French has pour. 

Reach. Spelt Reche in 1279 (Hund. Rolls), and in 1316 
(F.A.). It lies to the north of Swaffham Prior. The map in 
The Fenland, Past and Present, shews that it stood at the very 
ver-e of the waters of the fenlands, on a round projection 



72 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

of the old shore. It denotes, accordingly, that its position was 
on a " reach " or extension of the land ; and we have a similar 
name in Over, already discussed. The A.S. rcecan, to reach, 
also means to extend or hold out. The substantive derived 
from it is not in early use ; so that the present name is 
probably no older than the thirteenth century. Sawtry in 
Hunts, is merely a corruption of Saltreche ; see the Index to 
the Cartularium de Rameseia. It once stood upon a small 
salt bay. 

Spinney. There is a Spinney Abbey to the North of 
Wicken Fen. This name is French ; from the A.F. espinei, a 
place where thorn-trees grow ; from the Lat. spinetum, a thorn- 
thicket. The surname de Spineto refers to it, in 1228 (Pedes 
Finium). 

Stane, Staine. The name of a hundred. Spelt Stanes in 
Domesday Book ; a form which suggests a derivation from A.S. 
stan, a stone. But as this would have produced the modern 
form Stone, it was clearly re-named by Scandinavians, who 
translated it by the equivalent Scandinavian word, as seen in 
Icel. steinn, a stone. It makes no difference to the sense. 
Stanes represents the A.S. plural stdnas, i.e. "stones"; and we 
find this form in the Inquis. Eliensis, p. 98. Perhaps it is 
worth noting that the spelling Stegen given in Searle's 
Onomasticon is merely the English way of writing the Danish 
name Stein, which is the precise equivalent of A.S. Stan. In 
the same way, in the A.S. batswegen, modern Eng. boatswain, 
we see the Danish equivalent of the A.S. swan denoted by 
swegen ; and, at the same time, Swegen is the A.S. spelling of 
Swein, king of England in 1014. The reason is that ei was a 
diphthong unknown to A.S. scribes, who could only denote it 
by eg, where eg represents the sound of ay in way (A.S. weg). 

Staplow, Staploe. The name of a hundred ; a contracted 
form. The old spellings are Stapelho, 1284-1346; Stapilho, 
1401; Stapulho, 1428; all in F.A. Domesday Book has 
Staplehou. The prefix is the A.S. stapol, a post, pole, or pillar, 
as in Stapleford (p. 02). The suffix is the modern Eng. hoe, a 



§ 11. SOME OTHER NAMES. 73 

promontory or projecting point of land, derived from the A.S. 
hoh, a heel, a projection. See Hoe in the New Eng. Dictionary. 
No doubt the hundred (which includes Soham) was named 
from a lost village. 

Stow ; as in Stow-cum-Quy, and in North Stow and Long 
Stow hundreds. From A.S. stow, " a place " or site ; whence 
the verbs stow and bestow are derived. 

Toft. Toft is a well-known word of Scandinavian origin ; 
the usual sense is a cleared space for the site of a house; 
hence, a "homestead." See topt in Vigfusson's Icelandic 
Dictionary. The Domesday Book has Tofth, owing to the fact 
that the Norman scribes frequently represented the English t 
(especially when final) by th ; by which symbol they meant a 
strongly pronounced t, not the English th. Oddly enough, the 
spelling Thofte occurs in 1302 (F.A. i. 149), where it is the 
initial T that is thus treated. 

Tydd, or Tydd St Giles. Spelt Tyd in 1302 (F.A. i. 141). 
From an A.S. personal name. The earliest form of the name 
is Tidi (with short i) in the ninth century ; hence the place- 
name Tiddes-ford (Kemble). There is also a weak form 
Tidda. Compare the place-names Tidmarsh, Tidworth, and 
Tiddington. 

Wicken. Apparently the same as Wykes, mentioned in 
1210, in the Red Book of the Exchequer, and in 1284 in 
Feudal Aids, i. 136. There is much less difference in reality 
than in appearance ; for the sense is practically the same in 
either case. Wykes is the Mid. Eng. plural of wyh, answering 
to A.S. wlc, a village ; and Wicken, spelt Wykyne in 1395 in 
the Pedes Finium, answers to A.S. wlcmn, the dat. pi. of the 
same word, the pi. being used in the same sense as the 
singular; see wlc in the A.S. Dictionary. The use of the 
dative is common in place-names ; and the u in the suffix um 
would prevent the c from being palatalised. 



74 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

Wratting. Spelt Wrattinge in 1302 (F.A. i. 141); and 
Wreting in 1167 (P.R.). A variant is Wrotinge in 1210 (KB.); 
and as late as in Fuller's Worthies we find Wrotting. Domes- 
day Book has Waratinge, where the former a is inserted to 
help the Norman to pronounce the W. In iElfhelm's Will we 
have the A.S. form Wrcvttincge in the dative case. The name 
marks the settlement of an East-Anglian tribe of Wr cuttings 
or "sons of Wisetta." There is another Wratting in Suffolk; 
and, although we do not find Wrtet as a personal name, it is 
sufficiently vouched for by Wretham and Wretton, both in 
Norfolk. Neither is it difficult to divine whence the name 
arose ; the bearer of the name was probably conspicuous by 
bearing (like Oliver Cromwell) a wart upon his face. The 
Promptorium Parvulorum gives us wvet as the East- Anglian 
form of " wart," and it is still in use ; and the form wrat is 
still good Northern English. The Dutch word also is written 
wrat. 



§ 12. List of Ancient Manors. 

The following is a list of manors in the county of Cambridge, 
according to the Inquisitio Comitatus Cantabrigiensis and the 
Inquisitio Eliensis, in modern spelling, except when now un- 
represented. 

Bassingbourn, Balsham, Belincgesham, Bottisham, Bourn, 
Burvvell, Camps, Carlton, GUiitona, Cottenham, Kirtling, 
Chippenham, Ditton, Doddington, Dullingham, Dunham, Im- 
pington, Erlingetona (Harlton ?), Shelford, Ashley, Esselinga, 
Fulbourn, Fowhnere, Gransden, Hauxton, Histon, Hildersham, 
Hintou, Horningsea, Kennet, Linton, Litlington, Lolworth, 
Lyndona, Madingley, Morden, Over, Soham, Silverley, Saxton, 
Snailwell, Stapleford, Stetchworth, Streatham, Swaffham, 
Sutton, Teversham, Trumpington, Wratting, Wendy, Weston, 
Witcham, Wich (Wicken ?), Wilbraham, Wisbeach, Whittlesea, 
Willingham, Wentworth. 

For a list of hundreds, see Conybeare's Hist., p. 270. 



12, 13. ANCIENT MANORS. CONCLUSION. 7"> 



§ 13. Conclusion. 

The chief conclusion to be drawn from a general survey 
of the names is that very nearly all of them are Mercian 
English, perhaps mixed with Frisian, from which it is hardly 
distinguishable. There is hardly a trace of Celtic, except in 
the names of rivers. Of these, the Granta is certainly Celtic, 
aud is the origin (after many vicissitudes) of the modern Cam. 
The Kennet is also apparently Celtic ; but as to the origin 
of the Lark I can find no evidence. Among the oldest place- 
names is that of Ely. Considering the numerous inroads of 
the Danes, the traces of Danish are surprisingly small. The 
only name that is wholly Scandinavian is Toft. We also 
find traces of Danish nomenclature in the former syllables of 
Brinkley and Carlton, and perhaps of Boxworth and Pampis- 
ford. Bourn had once the Danish name of Brunne, and Staine 
is a Danish form of an A.S. Stan (Stone). I have seen an 
appeal made to the name Begdale, near Elm, as being an 
instance of Scandinavian influence ; but I suspect the name to 
be modern, and introduced from without; this is notoriously 
not a country in which one can find dales. Besides these traces 
of Danish, there are a few traces of Norman, as in the instance 
of the modern form of Quy, in the former elements of Guyhirn 
and Royston, and in the latter element of Newmarket; and 
some of the native names have been somewhat affected by a 
Norman pronunciation, as in the final syllable of Chatteris. 
But all these instances chiefly serve to emphasize the pre- 
dominance of English ; and it must never be forgotten that the 
speech of Cambridgeshire and Essex has always influenced the 
speech of London, and has thus affected to some extent and 
at second-hand, the prevailing speech of the whole empire. 

It has been alleged, with apparent truth, that the centre of 
gravity of the English dialects, that is to say, the district where 
the dialect approaches nearest to the literary standard, is that 
of Leicestershire. And it is further clear that our literary 
speech arose from the fact that, in three great educational 
centres, viz. London, Oxford, and Cambridge, the talk of the 



76 THE PLACE-NAMES OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 

higher classes did not materially differ, and certainly belonged 
to what is known as East Midland. I believe we cannot be 
far wrong in saying that the district whence standard English 
really arose is that occupied by a compact set of 12 counties, 
viz. Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, 
Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamp- 
tonshire, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex. 

Postscript. The recent publication of The Charters of 
the Borough of Cambridge by the Corporation of Cambridge 
and the Cambridge Antiquarian Society jointly suggests the 
addition of a few supplementary remarks. 

At p. 2 of this work is printed a Writ of Henry I., in which 
the spelling Cantebruge (for Cambridge) occurs. But the text 
is taken from a late copy, so that we have still no evidence for 
such a spelling earlier than 1142 (see p. 30 above). In fact, 
the original text of this Writ probably had Grentebruge through- 
out, as printed in the second line of it. This same work 
exhibits the spelling Cambrigge at p. 56, as occurring in 
Letters Patents dated 1465. Compare this with Cambryge in 
1462, as noted at p. 31 above. 

At p. 202 of the same work, the spelling of Stourbridge is 
seen to have been Stirbrigge in 1519, whilst we learn from 
p. 100 that it had become Starbridge in 1589. Cooper's 
Annals of Cambridge mentions Styrrebridge in 1544, and 
Stirbrige in 1546 (vol. i. pp. 416, 441). But, as shewn at 
p. 32 above, the oldest spelling is Steresbreg', as in 1279; in 
confirmation of which I can further cite Steresbreg' in 1201-2 
from the Rotulus Cancellarii de tertio anno regni regis Johan- 
nis (1833), p. 140, and Steresbrig in 1199-1200 from Rotuli 
Curise Regis, ed. Sir F. Palgrave, vol. ii. p. 62. Hence the 
explanation given at p. 32 above is sufficiently justified. 



INDEX. 



In the following Index, the reference is to the preceding pages. 

I have taken the opportunity of giving at the same time— with- 
in marks of parenthesis — the spellings which occur in Domesday 
Book, with references to the pages and columns as numbered in the 
Facsimile of the Part relating to Cambridgeshire, photozincographed 
in 1862. 

Thus the place-name Abington is discussed at p. 18 above; 
whilst the spelling Abintone will be found in the Facsimile four 
times, viz. in p. in, col. 1 (denoted by 3 a), in p. Ill, col. 2 (denoted 
by 3 b), in p. IX, col. 2, and in p. xi, col. 1. 



Abington (Abintone, 3 a, 3 b, 9 b, 11a), 

18 
Aldreth, 33 
Anglesea, 51 

Armingford (Erningford, 3 b, 9 b), 61 
Arrington (Erningtune, 10 a), 14 
Ashley (Esselie, 22 a), 64 

Babraham (Badburham, 5 a, Badburg- 

ham, 5 a, 18a, 21b), 19 
Badlingham, 20 

Balshana (Belesham, 4 b, 14 b), 20 
Barbara (Bercheham, 5 a, 10 b), 20 
Barnwell, 35 

Barrington (Barcntone, 9 a, 12 b), 18 
Bartlow, 34 

Barton (Bertone, 26 b), 6 
Bar way, 51 
Bassingbourn [Basingborne, 3b, lib), 

46 
-beach, 44 , . n 

L. oFC. 



Benwick, 28 

Borough Green (Burch, 14 b), 68 

Bottisham (Bodichesham, 15 a), 20 

-bourn, 46 

Bourn (Brune, 24 a), 46, 68 

Boxworth (Bochesuuorde, 8 a, 13 a 

17 a), 25 
Brand (or Brent) Ditch, 40 
-bridge, 29 
Brinkley, 64 
Bungay, 56 
Burnt Fen, 68 
Burwell (Bwewelle, 8 a), 36 

Caldecott, Caldecote (Caldecote, 13 a 

27 a), 28 
Cambridge (Grentebrige, la), 29-32 
Camp, 38 

Camps, Castle ; see Castle 
Camps, Sbudy; see Shudy 
Carlton (Garlentone, 14 b, 15 b), 6 



7.s 



INDEX. 



Castle Camps, 38. (D.B. has Campas, 
16 b, Canpas, 22 a) 

Caxton (Caustone, 20b), 6 

Chatteris (Cetriz, 6b, Cietriz, 9 a), 69 

Cherry Hinton (Hintone, 10 b), 7 

-Chester, 39 

Chesterton {Cestretone, 2 b), 7, 39 

Chettisham, 21 

Cheveley (Chavelai, 2 a, 13 b), 64 

Childerley (Cildrelai, 4 a, 26 a, Ct7- 
derZai, 28 a), 65 

Chilford (Cildeford, 10 b, 16 a), 61 

Chippenham (Chipeham, 17 b), 21 

Clayhithe, 33 

Clopton (Cloptune, 3 b, 18 a), 7 

Coates, 28 

Coldham, 21 

Comberton (Cumbertone, 2 a, 24 a), 7 

Conington (Cunitone, 18 a, 21 a, Con- 
tone, 17 a), 18 

-cote, 27, 28 

Coton, 8 

-Cottenham (Coteham, 6 a, 8 b, 26 a), 
21 

Coveney, 51 

Croxton (Crochestone, 21a, 27 a), 8 

Croydon (Crauuedene, 9b, lib), 47 

-den, 47 

Dernford, 62 

dike, 40 

Ditton (Ditone, 2 b, 13 b), 8 

Doddington (Dodinton, 6 b), 15 

down, -don, 49 

Downham (Duneham, 7 b), 21 

Drayton (Draitone, 3 a, 8 a, 9 a), 9 

Dullingham (Dulling eham, 9 a, 27 b, 

Dullingham, 18 b, Dulingham, 14 b), 

21 
Durham (A. S. Dun-holm), 57 
Duxford (Dochesuuorde, 15 a, 16 b), 25 

-ea, -ey, 50 

Earith, 34 

Eastrea, Estrea, 53 

Elm, 69 

Elsworth (Elesuuorde, 8 a, 17 b), 26 

Eltisley, 65 



Ely (Ely, 4 a, 7 a), 51 
Enhale, 41 

Eversden (Auresdone, 20 b, Atieres- 
done, 12 b, Euresdone, 21 b), 47 

fen, 60 

-field, 60 

Fleam Dike, 40 

Fiendish (Flamingdice, 3 a, Flammid- 

ing, 10 b, Flamiding, 17 a), 40 
-ford, 61 

Fordham (Fordcham, 2 a), 21 
Fowlmere, Foulmire (Fuglemcere, 16 b, 

Fugelesmara, lib), 66 
Foxton (Foxetune, 9 a), 9 
Fulbourn (Fulebeme, 5 a, 10 b), 46 

Gamlingay (Gamelingei, 26 b, 27 a), 56 
Girton (Gretone, 8 b, 9 b), 9 
Gransden (Gratedene, 6 a), 48 
Grantchester (Granteseta, 9 b, Grante- 

sete, 12 a, 15 a), 39 
Graveley (Graveled, 8 a), 65 
Guilden Morden, 48 
Guyhirn, 42 

Haddenham (Hadreham, 7 a), 22 

-hale, 41 

-ham, 19 

Hardwick (Harduic, 6 a), 28 

Harlton (Herletone, 15 b), 10 

Harston (Herlestone, 5 b, 11 b), 10 

Haslingfield (Haslingefeld, 2 b, 12 a, 

17 b), 60 
Hatley (Hatelai, 13 a, 18 a, Atelai, 

lib), 65 
Hauxton (Havochcstone, Hauochestone, 

5 b, 19 a), 10 
-heath, 63 

Hildersham (Hildricesham, 22 b), 22 
Hilgay, 57 
Hinxton, 11 
-hirn, 42 
Histon (Hestitone, 23 b, Histetone, 3 b, 

19 a, Histone, 3 b, 6 b, 9 b), 11 
-hithe, 33 

Horningsea (Horningesie, 5 a), 53 
Horseheath (Horsei, 10 b, 16 a), 63 



INDEX. 



7!) 



Ickleton {Hichelintone, 15 a, Inchelin- 

tone, 19 a), 17 
Impington (Epintone, 6 a, 25 b), 15 
-ington, 14 
Isleham (Gisleham, 2 a), 22 

Kennet {Chenet, 16 a), 69 
Kingston (Chingestone, 2 b, 10 a), 11 
Kirtling (Chertelinge, 27 b), 70 
Knapwell [Chenepewelle, 8 a), 36 
Kneesworth, 26 

Landbeach (Vtbech, 26 a, 27 a), 44 
Landwade, 68 
Leverington, 15 
-ley, 63 
Lingay, 59 

Linton (Lintone, 11 a), 11 
Litlington (Lidlintuue, 3 a), 16 
Littleport (Litelport, 6 b), 42 
lode, 42 

Lolworth (Lolesuuorde, 25 b), 26 
Long Stanton (Stantune, 13 b, Stan- 
tone, 18 a), 12 
-low, 34 

Madingley (Madingelei, 25 b, Mading- 

lei, 3 b), 65 
Malton, 12 
Manea, 53 
March, 70 

Melbourn (MeUeborne, 12 a), 43, 47 
Meldreth {Melrede, 5 b, 10 a, 12 a), 42 
Mepal, 41 
-mere, 66 

Milton (Middeltone, 26 a), 12 
Morden (Mordune, 9 b, 17 b), 48 

Newmarket, 70 
Newnham, 22 

Newton, 12 
Nosterfield, 60 

Oakington (Hochinton, 6 a, 8 b, Koch- 
intone, 25 b, 28 a), 16 

Olmstead, 25 

Orwell (Oreuuelle, 9 a, Orduuelle, 10a, 
15 b, Oreduuelle, 12 b), 36 



Outwell, 37 

Over {Owe, 8 a, Oure, 9 a), 70 

Pampisford (Pampeauuorde, 5 a, 11a), 

26 
Papwortb (Papeworde, 3 a, 13 a), 27 
Pearl's Bridge, 32 
pool, -pole, 67 
-port, 42 
Prickwillow, 71 

Quy (Coeia, 4 b), 71 

Kadfield (Radefelle, 4 a), 61 
Rampton (Rantone, 25 a), 12 
Eamsey, 53 
Reach, 71 
-reth, 42 
Royston, 13 

Sawston (Salsiton, 9 b, 17 a), 18 

Saxon Street, 13 

Saxton (Sextone, 22 a), 13 

Shelford (Escel/ord, 11 b, Escelforde, 

3 a, 5 b), 62 
Shengay, Shingay (Scelgei, 9 b), 59 
Shepreth (Escepride, 12 b, Esceprid, 

6 a, 9 a), 42 
Shudy Camps, 38 
Silverley (Severlai, 22 a), 66 
Snailwell (Snellewelle, 21 b), 37 
Soham (Saham, 1 b, 2 b, 14 b), 22 
Spinney, 72 

Stane, Staine (Stanes, 2 a, 4 b), 72 
Stanton; see Long 
Stapleford (Stapelforde, 5 b), 62 
Staplow, Staploe (Staplehou, lb, 4a, 

9 a), 72 
-stead, 25 

Steeple Morden, 48 
Stetchworth (Sthdcesuuorde, 21 b, Stu- 

uicesworde, 4 a, Sticesuuorde, 14 b), 

27 
Stonea, 54 
Stourbridge, 32 
Stow (Stou, 8 a), 73 
Stretham (Stradham, 6 b), 23 
Stuntney (Stuntenei, 6 b), 54 



SEP 8 1 9° ? - 



80 



INDEX. 



Sturbridge, 32 

Sutton (Sudtone, 7 b), 13 

Swaffham (Suafavi, 13 b, Suafham, 

15 b, Svafam, 4 b), 23 
Swavesey {Suavesye, 13 a, Suauesy, 

17 a), 54 

Tadlow (Tadelai, 23 b, 27 b), 35 
Teversham (Teuersham, 5 a, Teures- 

ham, 10 b), 23 
Thetford (Litel-tedford, 6 b), 63 
Thorney (Torn?/, 8 b), 54 
Toft (To/**, 12 b, 24 b, 28 a), 73 
-ton, 5 

Triplow (Trepeslau, 5 a, 9 a), 35 
Trumpington (Trumpitone, 15a, Trum- 

pinton, 16 a), 16 
Tydd St Giles, 73 

Upware, 44 
Upwell, 37 

-wade, 68 

Waterbeach (Bece, 13 b, Bech, 26 a), 

44 
-well, 35 

Welney, Welny, 54 
Wendy (Wandei, 19b, Wandrie, lib), 

55 
Wentworth (Winteioorde, 7 b), 27 



Westley (Weslai, 4 b, 14 b), 66 
Weston Colville (Westone, 15b), 14 
Westwick {Westuuiche, 26 a), 28 
West Wickham (Wicheham, 10 b, 15 a, 

16 a), 24 
Wetherley (Wederlai, 2 a, 9 b), 66 
Whaddon (Wadone, 5 b, 20 a, Wadune, 

12 a, 16 b), 49 
Wbittlesea (Witesie, 6 b), 55 
Whittlesford (Witelesford, 3 b, 9 b, 

Witelesforde, 11a, 19 a), 63 
Whittlesmere, 56 
-wick, 27 
Wicken, 73 
Wickham ; see West 
Wilbrahaui, 24 

Wilburton (Wilbertoiie, 7 a), 14 
Willingha,m(Wiuelingham, 13a, Wivel- 

ingham, 6 a), 24 
Wimblington, 17 

Wiinpole (Winepole, 12b, 18b), 67 
Wisbeach (Wisbece, 7 a, 9 a, 16 a), 

44, 46 
Witcham (Wiceham, 7 b), 24 
Witchford (Wiceforde, 6b, Wiceford, 

7 b), 63 
Wormegay, 57 
-worth, 25 
Wratting (Waratinge, 4 b, 14 b, 16 a, 

19 a; cf. Warateuuorde, 12 b), 74 



CAMBRIDGE : PRINTED BY J. AND C. F. CLAY, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 



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1883. 5s. 

A Description of the Sextry Barn at Ely, lately de- 
molished. By Professor R. Willis, M.A. Quarto Publications, 
No. VII. pp. 8 + 4 plates. 1843. 3s. 

Historical and Architectural Notes on Great St Mary's 
Church. By S. Sandars, M.A. 

Together with the Annals of the Church. By Canon E. 
Venables, M.A. Octavo Publications, No. X. pp. 98 + folding 
plan and 4 illustrations in the text. 1869. 3s. 

The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Bottisham 
and of the Priory of Anglesey. By Edw. Hailstone, Jun. 
Octavo Publications, Nos. XIV. and XVI. pp. xii +372 + 7 plates. 
With Supplement, pp. 35. 1873—8. 13s. 



A History of Horningsey. By W. K. Clay, B.D. Octavo 
Publications, No. VII. pp. xv + 60. 1865. 2s. 6d 

A History of Landbeach. By W. K. Clay, B.D. Octavo 
Publications, No. VI. pp. vii + 126 + 1 plate. 1861. 4s. 6d. 

A History of Milton. By the late W. K. Clay, B.D. Octavo 
Publications, No. XI. pp. xii+ 108. 1869. 3s. 

A History of Waterbeach. By W. K. Clay, B.D. Octavo 
Publications, No. IV. pp. x + 148 + 3 plates. 1859. 5s. 

BIOGRAPHY. 

The Diary of Edward Rud; to which are added several 
Letters of Dr Bentley. Ed. by H. R. Luard, MA. Octavo 
Publications, No. V. pp. vii + 52. 1860. 2s. 6d. 

The Correspondence of Richard Porson, M.A., formerly 
Regius Professor of Greek. Ed. by H. R. Luard, M.A. Octavo 
Publications, No. VIII. pp. xiii + 143. 1867. 4s. Gd. 

Memoir of the Rev. Caleb Parnham, B.D., St John's College. 
By J. R. Lunn, B.D. Second edition much enlarged. Octavo 
Publications, No. XXI. pp. 50. 1884. 2s. 

The Diary of Alderman S. Newton (1662 — 1717). Edited 
by J. E. Foster, M.A. Octavo Publications, No. XXIII. pp. 
xvi+144. 1890. 5s. 

Mr Essex's Journal of a Tour through part of Flanders 
and France made in August 1773. Edited by W. M. Fawcett, 
M.A., F.S.A. Octavo Publications, No. XXIV. pp. xxxvi + 77 
+ with portrait, silhouette front., and illustrations in the text. 1888. 
5s. 

Biographical Notes on the Librarians of Trinity College 
on Sir Edward Stanhope's Foundation. By Robert Sinker, 
D.D. Octavo Publications, No. XXIX. pp. xii + 86. 1897. 
3s. Gd. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

A Catalogue of the Original Library of St Catharine's 
Hall, 1475. Ed. by Professor G. E. Corrie, B.D. Quarto 
Publications, No. I. pp. viii + 11. 1840. Is. Gd. 

An annotated List of Books printed on Vellum to be found 
in the University and College Libraries at Cambridge ; with 
an appendix on the bibliography of cambridge libraries. by 
S. Sandars, M.A. Octavo Publications, No. XV. pp. 80. 1878. 
2s. 

On the Abbey of St Edmund at Bury. I. The Library; 
II. The Church. By M. R. James, Litt.D. Octavo Publications, 
No. XXVIII. pp. viii + 220 + folding plan. 1895. 7s. Gd. 

EXTRA SERIES. 

Luard Memorial Series. I. "Grace Book A," containing 
the Proctor's Accounts and other Records of the University 
of Cambridge for the years 1454 — 1488. Edited by Stanley 
M. Leathes, M.A. 8vo. pp. xliv + 276. 1897. Issued to Sub- 
scribers, 21s. .(Members of the Society, 15s.) 

The Series to be completed in 5 Vols. 

" Many a biographer who has grieved over the fact that Cooper's Athena 
began in 1500 and no earlier will find in Grace Book A a most precious 
appendix." — Atheruzum. 

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